30 Ways: Shinichi and Ran
by Candyland
Summary: How do I love thee, let me count the ways...thirty little love stories for Shinichi and Ran. :Heaven: After careful consideration, she opened the envelope and began to read.:
1. Mirror Struck

**Title: **Mirror-Struck**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#18—vanity**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Okay, I get it. You're gorgeous. Can we go now?

* * *

A lot had happened since the fall of the Black Organization. 

Mouri Ran had been privy to the vast majority of what had happened as well.

Finding out about her best friend's, ah, _situation_ had easily been the most traumatic part of the ordeal, though it was by no means the only thing that had happened. But somewhere, somehow, amidst the chaos of investigation and questioning and testimony and police work…

The two star-crossed ones had found each other again. They just couldn't actually do anything about it right away because one of them was technically a child. Still, he busied himself with assisting the police on the Black Org case; it was also a credit to the police when Megure-keibu informed him that one of the police labs had expressed an interest in taking a look at the apotoxin.

Even with the help of police scientists, it had been a long, impatient wait for both of them—for a variety of reasons. But finally, the good news had come: they had a working antidote. The poison was going to be reversed at last, and Kudo Shinichi was finally back for good.

After Shinichi had returned to his true body, things had slowly but surely returned to relative normal in their world. Or at least as normal as things could get when one of the parties involved was no longer merely a local celebrity, but a world-famous detective who had brought almost single-handedly brought down one of the largest and farthest-reaching crime syndicates in law enforcement history…all while trapped in the body of his seven-year-old self.

It was difficult, Ran admitted. Before, she'd more or less had Shinichi to herself—with the exception of the dead bodies that popped up along the way, of course. But now it seemed she had to share him with the whole world. The bust of the Syndicate had been an enormous story, with worldwide implications, and the names Kudo Shinichi and Hattori Heiji were household words around the globe. Ran knew for a fact that Kazuha was having some similar difficulties for the same reasons.

They'd been out on their first real date; both had already been shy and nervous about finally taking their relationship to that level, though they both knew it was what they really wanted. However, the general public didn't seem to notice or care, and Shinichi had been stopped repeatedly by fans (many of them young, female, and pretty) wanting autographs and such.

At first, it was more or less bearable. But by about the twentieth such interruption, Ran was getting a bit upset, and Shinichi was ready to run away screaming. How ironic was it that a murder in the park would actually provide them with the escape they needed. Once the police arrived, Shinichi solved the case (as usual), and in the resulting chaos he and Ran had made a clean getaway.

Surprisingly enough, they'd made it to his house with no further problems. Proof of the change in him became evident at that time as well: he apologized, though he really had no control over the behavior of the fangirls, and she'd told him as much.

Things were changing at a fast pace. Still, there were a few things that she still wondered about…

"Okay, Shinichi," Ran sighed as the teenaged tantei stopped to study his reflection in yet another reflective surface. This time, it was a window. "I get it already. You're gorgeous. Now can we please get moving before we're late for school?"

Shinichi ran a hand through his hair and straightened up before turning to give her a sheepish grin. "Sorry…" They continued on their way, but it wasn't long before he stopped again to admire himself in another store window.

Ran stopped and waited, one hand on her hip. "Shinichi!"

He jumped and gave her another one of those embarrassed little smiles. "Sorry again…"

"What is it with you and the window?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "You've always been a little bit vain, but this is taking it too far, don't you think?"

"Hey!" Shinichi protested. "I was stuck as Conan for God only knows how long! I haven't seen myself in a long time!" He turned back to the window and grinned at his reflection. "I missed me!"

Ran tried, but really couldn't think of anything reasonable to say to that. The boy had a fairly valid point. Instead she simply sighed and started walking again. "Come on, genius. Can we go now?" He scampered to catch up. And to his credit, he didn't stop again to check himself out for the remainder of their walk to school.

But when Ran saw him pulling a tiny mirror out of his desk and smiling at his reflection, she started to wonder if maybe he had more of a problem then she'd initially thought.

* * *

**PS.** _Umm…yeah._ _In case anyone didn't already know, I'm a total LJ theme comm whore. I just can't help it. I can't! And so it was that Candy-chan spake, and she decree-eth that there should be more Shinichi and Ran ficcage, and lo, there was more Shinichi and Ran ficcage, and there was much rejoicing. This one was a little on the short side :) The entire idea was around Shinichi saying that line: "I haven't seen myself in a while—I missed me!" That was the whole point of this story._

_As with 30 Friends and 30 Evil Deeds, my Grand Master Plan (of Evil) is to have this as a bit more of a "back burner" project for now, in favor of Nights and Hugs. There will be updates here, though, just probably not as often as those other two. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the first one. Thanks, all! Much love!_


	2. One Shining Moment

**Title: **One Shining Moment**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#4—all dressed up**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Shinichi, what are you doing here?

* * *

"Why did I let you drag me here?" Ran asked mournfully. "I'm really not in the mood for a party right now." Still, she obligingly followed Sonoko through the crowd towards the mini-bar, where drinks (alcoholic and otherwise) abounded.

"Because you've been moping around for way too long!" Sonoko said brightly, passing her a glass of bright red punch—ironically, the exact same color as Ran's own dress—and taking a swig of her own. "You need to get out, have some fun, and meet some cute boys!"

So that _was_ it. Ran sighed and lowered the glass from her lips, its contents untouched. "Sonoko…" While she did understand that her friend did these things with nothing but her best interests in mind…well, it was said that the road to hell was paved with good intentions and such. Plus, there was something else…

"Come on, Ran!" Sonoko gestured towards the crowd. "You can't pout around all the time! Look around at all the cute, eligible guys! One of them has got to be at least as good as Shinichi-kun!"

"Sonoko, I'm going home," she sighed. She felt awfully stupid. Here she'd gotten all dressed up and ready for a nice night out at a fun party, and instead she'd found herself stuck right in the middle of a bona fide matchmaking scheme. Really, why was she so surprised?

Ignoring Sonoko's continued protests, she headed back across the crowded dance floor towards the door; halfway there, she accidentally half-crashed into someone else, bumping shoulders hard enough to hurt. Immediately she turned to offer an apology…which died on her tongue in favor of, "You!"

Shinichi jumped a mile when he realized exactly who he'd bumped into. "Uh…hi, Ran."

"What are you doing here?" Ran asked, incredulous rather than angry. She still wasn't quite sure if she was ready to see him, or even if she wanted to see him yet. She just wasn't certain yet.

"I…was invited," he said slowly. He even pulled out a pale yellow envelope, slightly wrinkled from time spent his jacket pocket and showed it to her before returning it to his dark blue blazer. They looked at each other for a minute before it clicked, and in one voice…

"Sonoko."

As if on cue, the lights dimmed, and a slow love song started to play. Around them everyone was scrambling for partners and slipping into the mood of the music. Shinichi stared at Ran, and Ran couldn't help but warily watch him back. Strange, though—he was hanging back. It seemed that he was waiting for her to make the first move…

_Inhale, exhale._ _Deep breath in, let it out slowly_, she told herself. Swallowing hard, she took one tentative step towards him. She didn't dare say anything just yet, but instead held her arms out—one up and in front of her, the other out to the side. It was a silent invitation for him to fill the void there.

He didn't disappoint, and stepped into place. Her raised arm came to rest perfectly on his shoulder, and his hand found hers; his free hand sat innocently at her waist. If nothing else, he was still a gentleman.

"So we were set up," Ran sighed after they'd been dancing for a couple of seconds. "I should have known something was up when Sonoko insisted I come to her family's party—she knows I don't really like big gatherings like this."

"I should have guessed when she invited me at all," he replied. "I even called her to make sure it wasn't a mistake or a joke or something. She said she wasn't mad at me, and insisted I come." He hesitated, then asked, "What about you?"

It took her a second to realize what he was really asking: _Are you still angry? _She even said as much to make certain she understood. "You want to know if I'm still mad at you, right?"

He nodded mutely. For some reason, his expression brought to mind a whimpering puppy, all big eyes and muffled hopefulness, and it almost made her laugh out loud. She managed to reel in her odd sense of humor, knowing that it would do more harm than good. Things were already shaky enough between them, no point in aggravating the situation.

A thought occurred to her, and she gave him a shy smile—since when was she so bashful around him? Then again, since when was he this timid? They'd both changed a lot through the Conan fiasco, and it was a sign of just how much she'd grown up and grown bolder that she actually heard herself saying, "Tell you what. Buy me dinner, and we'll call it settled."

Shinichi's gaze had been down and off to the side; now his head snapped back. His expression went from 'scared puppy' to 'hooked halibut' in point-two seconds. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me."

There was a pause as he processed her request, and then he asked hesitantly, "Is this a date?"

"Do you want it to be?" she replied with a question of her own. She honestly didn't know what the answer was going to be, but she took the risk and asked anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"Well, I…umm…" It seemed that the poor boy was unprepared for actual forgiveness, and so was having immense difficulty piecing his thoughts together.

"Yes or no," she said gently. "That's all there is to it."

Shinichi swallowed hard and nodded. "All right. A date. Okay?"

Ran nodded back. "Good."

In the background, the love song of Sonoko's choosing was reaching the bridge.

He was fidgeting—not much, but enough that she could tell he was seriously thinking about something. After a few seconds, she tugged on his sleeve. "Hey—what's up?"

"Well…it's just…" he bit his lip nervously.

"Just what?"

He almost said it, and changed his mind at the last second, shaking his head. "No."

"Shinichi."

"I don't want to push my luck. I mean, I can't believe you're not mad at me…not to mention that we actually have a d-date planned," he shook his head. "Not pushing my luck."

"Unless you're going to really insult me or start babbling about Holmes," Ran said reassuringly, "I think you'll walk away intact. Now come on—tell me. It's just what?"

"It's just…" he sighed as his eyes finally locked with hers, "…if you don't stop me right now—slap me or push me away or something—I think I might kiss you." He was dead serious, and his head was already inching towards hers. "Stop me. I mean it."

Ran was only mildly startled to feel her own head tilting in response. "No."

"I mean it, Ran…"

"So do I."

That was all the conversation there was time for. And neither heard the song end.

* * *

**PS.** _The fluff…the fluff eats at meeee…and the fluff has really sharp teeth, just so y'all know…anyhoo, yay for random waff, brought to you with love from the heat and non-air-conditioned rooms at NIACC x.x Yay for conferences! Title comes from an awesome Marc Anthony song, which I listened to about forty times through while I was writing this. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks a mil, everyone. Much love!_


	3. Still of the Night

**Title: **Still of the Night**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#26—snuggle**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **What are you so afraid of?

**---**

Shinichi was only mildly surprised when the door opened. It offered up only a click and the softest of creaks to betray itself. He watched it swing open only a few inches, and saw the outline of a head peer through the opening. Even if he hadn't already known who it was, he would have instantly recognized that particular silhouette.

"Shinichi?" the shadow spoke, confirming what he already knew. "Are you awake?"

He was sprawled on his back on his bed; until a moment ago, his eyes had been closed to give the illusion of sleep. Now he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "Yeah, I'm still up."

The door opened a bit further and the rest of the shadow padded into the room, still staying close to the door. "I didn't wake you up, did I?" He could make out that she was toying with a strand of her hair—a nervous habit.

"It's okay, Ran. I can't sleep," he replied.

She came closer, and he could finally make out facial features. She looked…nervous? Scared? What was the right word for that expression? "Do you want some company?" she asked softly, fingers still twisting the ends of her hair.

He smiled. "Sure," he gestured for her to sit down. She did so, sitting on the bed beside him with one leg curled under her and the other hanging off the edge of the mattress. The movement seemed stilted, awkward, formal; she really was nervous. He waited until she was seated, silently thankful that he could finally see her face clearly. "What's up?"

Ran looked away. "I couldn't sleep."

"I couldn't either. Kinda glad for the company, though—I certainly wasn't going to go into your room," Shinichi admitted, then ventured, "Something's bothering you." It was a statement, not a question.

She didn't even try to deny it; she simply nodded. "I'm…scared. I'm really scared. I know there's nothing to be afraid of right now—we're safe here, at least for now," she rushed on, correctly guessing his intended reply, "but I'm still scared."

"You're not afraid of being here?"

"No."

"You're not afraid of…them?"

"No."

"…Ran, then what are you so afraid of?"

She didn't answer that question. Instead, she replied with one of her own…that completely changed the subject. "Do you remember when I told you I was coming with you?" She actually chuckled at the memory. "You were dead-set against the idea…"

"I shouldn't have been so surprised," he shook his head, remembering…

_**-o-**_

"_I'm going with you."_

_Shinichi looked up from his packing—he was almost done—and at the speaker: Ran, standing in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest. "Pardon?"_

"_I said I'm going with you," she repeated calmly. Her posture was menacing, but her voice was even and her expression was more than a little concerned. "You're not leaving me behind…" There was almost an implied 'again' that hung, unspoken, in the air between them._

_Shinichi straightened, turned to face her fully, and sighed. "Ran—"_

"_Don't 'Ran' me, Shinichi," she took a step into the room. "You're not going alone."_

"_I have to," he said shortly, feeling horrible for saying it at all. "I'm going into hiding, remember? Witness protection, will have to testify against them, ringing any bells? You can't go with me."_

"_You're not talking me out of it."_

"_It's not a matter of talking you out of it! It's a matter of reason!" Ah, reason. His dear, dear friend. Reason could always be counted on, right? "They'll be after me! If they find me, I don't want them getting you, too. You go with me, you're in danger. You need to stay here."_

"_But…" she whispered, "if you leave me behind, then I'll really be all alone."_

_He opened his mouth…and promptly closed it again. He really didn't have any decent answer for that. He could argue forever about her safety and the Black Organization and what all could happen to her just because she knew him…but would she really be safer here than she would with him? "Ran…"_

"_Please don't make me stay behind," she said softly. "Please?"_

_Shinichi sighed, realizing that he'd lost this fight before it had even really started. It was up to her to convince everyone else now, though, and make them see reason—her reasoning, at least—before he (or they) left. And in the case of her parents especially, he suspected that would be no easy task._

_When Ran appeared at the station on the scheduled date of departure, suitcase in hand, Shinichi was openly amazed. But to his frustration, she refused to tell him exactly how she had worked the miracle of getting her parents to agree to let her go._

_**-o-**_

"You're too stubborn sometimes, you know that?" he said after a pause.

"Someone has to keep you in line," she replied without missing a beat, and he couldn't keep himself from laughing lightly at the truth there. The mood was decidedly lighter now, but there was still that underlying tension, that thread of muted fear that kept them from totally losing themselves and just enjoying the simple moment.

"…Ran, why _are_ you so afraid?" he asked again after they had lapsed back into a comfortable silence for a few beats.

Not surprisingly, she shook her head. "I don't think you'd understand—"

"I think I understand more than you think. I'll even take a wild guess," Shinichi said softly. "I can't tell you if you made the right decision or if I made the right decision or anything. We make our choices, we stand by them, and we live with the risks and consequences of those decisions." He raised an eyebrow and gave her a wry smile, hoping she could see it in the darkness. "I risked losing you when I lied to you about Conan…and you're stuck with me because you forgave me for it—whether you like it or not."

The desired effect was achieved: Ran laughed. "We'll see about that, smart guy."

"Was I right?"

"…more or less," she sighed. "I really can't hide anything from you, can I?"

"Nope!"

"Get out of my mind! It's dark and scary in there!"

"I won't argue with that," he beamed before he grew serious again. "But really…you don't have to be afraid." He wasn't about to admit his own persistent fears just yet—there were nightmares and shadows of recent experiences that stalwartly refused to be brushed away by the forgiveness of loving hands.

"What if they find you?" she exploded, everything coming out of her in a rush. "They're still out there, Shinichi—you know it, I know it, everybody who knows anything about it knows it! If they find you, they'll kill you…they'll kill us…everyone…" She slumped forward. "I didn't want to be alone, and I didn't want you to be alone. Did I make the right choice?"

"We'll know when this is over. Not before."

Ran looked like she was going to say something else, but apparently changed her mind at the very last minute and stood up abruptly. "I should go back to bed. Sorry to bug you. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight," he watched as she turned away.

She started back across the room towards the door, but paused and turned back to him; her shadowed expression was nervous and indecisive. Perhaps she was going to say whatever else was on her mind right now… "Shinichi?"

"Hmm?"

She was playing with her hair again. "…can I stay?"

He paused at her question. "What?"

"Can I stay here?" she repeated softly. "Just for tonight. I mean—I don't want anything like that! I just…" She waved her hands around as she groped for the right words before her arms finally dropped limply to her sides and she sighed. "I just don't want to be alone right now. So…please let me stay?"

Shinichi actually gave it some thought. They were alone in this place, hiding out from what was left of the Syndicate. It would be so easy to slip, but…it was Ran. He'd sooner shoot himself in the head than harm her. Right now, she wanted comfort—she wanted to know that she wasn't alone right now, that she'd made the right choice when she'd insisted on coming here with him. And when it came down to it…he really couldn't deny her anything, could he?

He slid closer to the wall, swinging his feet up onto the bed and under the blankets; he then held up the bedclothes and looked up at her expectantly. "Come on. It's okay."

Even though she'd asked, she definitely hadn't been expecting him to say yes, and it showed in the way she hesitated ever so slightly before she took the few steps that brought her back to the bedside. She sat down a bit stiffly and slid her own legs under the covers before lowering her head to one of the pillows. She waited patiently while he tucked her in (though it was a bit embarrassing, it was still kind of nice) and then took his spot beside her, one tentative arm around her waist over the blankets.

It was unexpectedly awkward, actually made worse by the fact that neither was moving.

Finally, it was Ran who gave in. She shifted, turning onto her side…and then her arms were around him, her face pressed against his shoulder. "Shinichi…Shinichi…" her voice was muffled as she said his name over and over.

Her move was bold, but it served it's purpose; the tension had broken, and Shinichi finally realized that he, too, could move again. He returned the gesture and rolled over a fraction to wind up on his back, letting her head rest more against his chest.

It was so warm. Close. Comfortable.

_Safe_.

After a moment, Ran sighed and snuggled a little closer to him. "Thank you."

"Hmm…" he only half-replied. For a long moment, they were silent, though it was far more of a comfortable silence than the tension of a mere minute earlier. Then Shinichi spoke again. "Ran?"

"Hmm?" she murmured a response this time, and he wondered if she was finally falling asleep.

Shinichi took a deep breath. "Can I…kiss you goodnight?"

It was quiet just long enough for him to think he'd done something atrociously wrong before she tilted her head up to rest her chin on his chest. Her half-open eyes were shining in the darkness. "Please?"

He didn't need any further encouragement or pleading. He simply lifted his head and lowered it until his lips met hers for one sweet moment. It didn't last long or deepen, nor was it particularly expert—it was exactly what it was, and nothing more.

When he let his head lay back against the pillow, and hers returned to its perch on his shoulder, both sighed happily. It wasn't long after that her breathing slowed, signaling that she'd fallen asleep at last. But Shinichi lay awake for a little while longer, his fingers threading carefully through the ends of her hair, thoughts running haphazardly around in his head like little panicked squirrels.

They had risked a lot to get this far, hadn't they?

He smiled and closed his eyes to seek his own dreams, resolving not to let it bother him.

Some things were just worth it.

**---**

**PS.** _The fluff is still eating my brain. With tartar sauce. Apparently, my brain is very tasty 0.0 I send this out to the awesome **fd**! Because, as mentioned, she is AWESOME. And this is also my "Good luck at college" prezzie to her, so cheers! This is my back-burner project still, but we shall keep trucking along, yay fun! Thanks for reading, everyone. I hope you enjoyed the fluffy._

_Much love, all!_


	4. Cubed

**Title: **Cubed**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#9—oops!**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Shinichi plus a Rubik's cube equals not good.

* * *

Ran, Shinichi reflected wryly, was evil.

It wasn't in any overt way—she wasn't going out and killing anyone or stealing anything or kicking puppies or even taking candy from babies. It wasn't a tangible evil, but more of a subtle one.

Namely, she had given him a Rubik's cube and told him to have a party.

Then she'd gone into the kitchen to fix some lunch, leaving him to sit at the table and ponder the mysteries of the toy in his hands. And he started playing with it, having no doubts at all that he would solve the puzzle in record time.

But he quickly made a rather unpleasant discovery: it wasn't as easy as it looked.

The Rubik's cube was NOT cooperating at all.

He kept flipping and twisting and turning the various faces of the block, but he always wound up with one or two that weren't where they were supposed to be. To put it bluntly, it was kicking his ass.

Shinichi did not enjoy losing. He attacked the Rubik's cube with a vengeance.

But after a while, his enthusiasm turned to frustration as he stared at it yet again, a single yellow square smiling cheerily up at him from amidst the eight blue ones. This was stupid, he decided, in the true fashion of one who doesn't want to admit defeat, but refuses to go on with the losing battle.

"Screw it," Shinichi muttered, halfheartedly tossing the thing across the room. It was a childish thing to do, but he was feeling especially sullen at the moment, and there was a strange satisfaction that came with chucking the stupid toy.

That satisfaction went CRUNCH, however, when he heard a female voice let out a yelp, followed by a crashing noise. Shinichi jumped up and rushed over in a panic…

…to come face to face with Mouri Ran. A very irate Mouri Ran. Who was standing in the kitchen doorway with two plates shattered at her feet and the remnants of what appeared to be several sandwiches scattered amidst the shards of broken ceramic. A dark brown liquid—probably tea—was soaking into the aforementioned sandwich remains.

And Ran herself had one hand pressed to her forehead, where a dark red welt was already appearing. And she did not look like a happy camper. "Shinichi…" she said in a slow, even voice.

He winced—that was an uber-bad sign. "Ummm…oops?"

She stepped past the wreckage of what was intended to be lunch, stalked towards him, and put her angry face close enough to his that their noses were brushing. "You should consider yourself _very_ lucky that I love you. Now," she jabbed a finger at the mess on the floor, "clean it up."

"Yes, ma'am," Shinichi squeaked.

* * *

**PS.** _I give this with lurv to **mint-chan**. Happy birthday! Sorry it's been a while since I posted on this challenge—my primary focus right now is on Nights and Hugs, as I want to have them both done by Christmas. Then this one can get some lovin'. Thanks for reading, everyone. Much love!_


	5. Six Secrets

**Title: **Six Secrets**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#16—honesty**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **There were things about her that he didn't know. And she decided to tell him.

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, Mouri Ran did have secrets.

Even more surprising was the fact that there were a few secrets she didn't even tell Shinichi, despite the fact that they'd been an officially couple since his "miraculous" return two years earlier.

And with the realization that they'd been together this long and that things were getting increasingly serious came the comprehension that there were still things about her that Shinichi didn't know. And not all of them were necessarily good.

Not that it was anything atrociously awful—she was a good person. But still…those things were there. And after a bit of soul-searching and thinking, she decided to tell him. With things moving the way they were between them…he had a right to know.

And so she found herself here.

Ran felt a bit guilty about sneaking into Shinichi's house at this hour of the morning—it was seven-thirty, early by almost any standards—but his door had always been open to her, and she did have a key. She'd never been shy about coming here before.

…but usually he either wasn't here or he was awake.

And there was something that felt very invasive about entering a person's home in the knowledge that they were still lost to innocent slumber. Even moreso when she crept up the stairs to his bedroom, eased the door open, and peered inside.

He was still asleep. Good. That meant she could make her delivery unseen and unhindered and leave quickly. She dug into her purse and withdrew the package she had come to deliver.

Six postcards, all tied together with a red ribbon. Red was his favorite color, after all. Each postcard bore a secret, outlined in her own hand. They were things she had never told him or anyone else. But they were serious about each other, and she felt like he should know.

Six postcards for six secrets.

She tiptoed across the room and gingerly set the tiny bundle on the pillow by his head. There was no way he'd miss them when he woke up. She risked a few more seconds to just look at him and smile down at him before sneaking out again.

And she left quickly, before she could change her mind and go back to retrieve them.

Work proved only a minor distraction. She kept finding herself staring into space, wondering if he'd woken up yet, if he'd found them, if he'd read them…more than once, a co-worker had to call her back down to reality. Still, she couldn't keep herself from trying to imagine how he'd reacted.

Six secrets. And not were all necessarily flattering.

Ran glanced at the clock. Ten after ten. There was no way that he was still sleeping, he had to have woken up. And she'd left those there so he would definitely see them when he woke up.

Again, her co-worker was calling her back down from the moon, and she tried to refocus, though her mind continued to drift towards imaginings of what he would think, what he would say…

"Ran?"

She jumped and looked up at the person who had apparently materialized beside her. "Shinichi…"

That was burned into her mind, the way he looked right then. It wasn't even that spectacular, really, jeans and a black button-down shirt—he looked like he always did. But he seemed out of breath, like he had run here…and he was holding a tiny sheaf of paper bound by a red ribbon…

And he was smiling.

He took a second to catch his breath and steady himself before he dropped to his knees, putting one arm on the back of her chair to keep his balance. "Ran," he smiled, "will you marry me?"

For a moment, Ran forgot to breathe. And then she smiled. "Yes…" And ignoring the fact that the entire office was watching and cheering, she leaned down to let him kiss her.

* * *

**PS.** _Inspired by my friend's PostSecret book._ _It's an incredible website—very eye-opening. As to what Ran's secrets are…that's a secret. Or I don't know. Whichever. Thanks for reading, all. Much love!_


	6. Missing Persons Report

**Title: **Missing Persons Report**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#21—silly hats**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Shinichi worked through the details of the case while his young client waited tearfully.

* * *

Kudo Shinichi was an all-around intelligent person. But it was when he was working over a mystery that he was in his true element. His sharp eyes never missed a clue; his well-trained mind never forgot a detail. And he rarely made mistakes.

He was in full-blown detective mode at this moment, working over the details of this latest case while his young client waited tearfully. He paced back and forth, reviewing each clue in his mind in an attempt to draw a conclusion.

Finally, after a long moment, he stopped and turned to face the young man who had come to him, begging for help with a missing persons case. "I know where the victim is."

The client looked up eagerly. "You do?"

"Yes, it's quite simple," Shinichi said with a knowing grin. "First, we have to start by retracing the victim's steps to find his last known location. Now, you said you went to the library with our missing person, correct?"

The client nodded.

Shinichi went on, "Then you went to get something to eat, and from there you went and visited your mother, right?"

"Yes…"

"And where did you go with the victim next? Was that when you went to enjoy a game?"

"Uh-huh."

"I see…"

"So you know where he is?" the client asked with a sniffle.

"I do indeed," Shinichi grinned. He crossed the room, opened the closet door, and reached in, digging around under the coats. After a moment, he withdrew. In his hand was a brown teddy bear wearing a deerstalker hat. "Right here."

"Daddy, you found him!" the client—a four-year-old boy—dove across the room to snatch the stuffed animal from his father's clutches. He snuggled it lovingly. "You found Sherlock!"

"I think you left him in there when you were playing Hide-and-Seek," Shinichi smiled at his son.

"Yay!" the little boy threw one arm around his father's leg in a quick hug. He then turned and scampered out of the study, pausing only long enough to beam up at his mother in the doorway and hold up the stuffed animal proudly. "Daddy found Sherlock! He's the best!" And he was off, heading for parts unknown to do whatever it was he intended to do.

Ran fondly watched her son skitter off down the hallway before fixing her husband with a Look. "Was that all really necessary?" she asked, taking a few steps into the room. "You could have just told him where his bear was." She tried to look irritated, with the air of a long-suffering wife, but she couldn't quite keep the corners of her mouth from twitching in the beginnings of what was definitely a smile.

"Aww, but this is so much more fun," Shinichi grinned cheekily; he walked over and slung an arm around her waist. "Besides, you know how much he likes mysteries. Can't imagine where he gets it from."

"He's your son, and I will never forgive you for it," Ran sighed good-naturedly, leaning into the one-armed embrace. Still she was smiling. "Oh well. That's what I get for marrying a detective geek."

"You know you love me."

"…I know. Can't imagine why."

"Well, I do have sparkly eyes."

"Hush."

* * *

**PS.** _I'm pulling myself off hiatus, everyone, slowly but surely. Or at least I'm trying to. I haven't written a fanfic in a month, and truth be told I'm feeling a lot better for it. I think I needed the break—I've been pushing myself way too hard lately, and I'm burned out. Thanks for your patience, everyone :)_

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMM!! ONLY A MONTH LATE!! YES, I'M ASHAMED OF MYSELF FOR MAKING YOU WAIT THIS LONG FOR A DINKY LITTLE GIFT, BUT HERE IT IS!! LOVES!!**_

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the random silliness, short as it was. I just found the image of a teddy bear wearing a Holmes hat adorable. And this is Shinichi's son, after all. Thanks, all! Much love!_


	7. Serenade

**Title: **Serenade**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#20—insert lyrics here**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **A serenade is so romantic. Unless he can't sing.

* * *

It wasn't that Shinichi minded watching movies with Ran. Far from it—it was usually a very pleasant experience. But every once in a while, she would get it into her head to pick some lovey-dovey fluffy romantic…thing, and he would spend the entire night calculating exactly how much she owed him for sitting through this mind-numbing experience.

Not that he ever actually voiced how much he felt was due him.

That could get him killed.

Tonight's monstrosity was no different. Bur Ran seemed completely spellbound by the trite love story and wooden acting, leaving Shinichi to ponder his options: jump out the window, or kiss Ran and hope she was interested.

On the screen, the dashing hero (who seemed to have all the acting ability of a surfboard) was perched in a tree below the heroine's balcony. Said heroine was leaning down to call to him, proving beyond a doubt that as long as she was wearing that particular dress, she was one deep breath away from a misdemeanor charge. The hero called back to her with some cheesy line before picking up his guitar. And he started to play and sing to his lady-love, who sighed dreamily and over-dramatically.

In short, Shinichi was ready to scream.

His own lady, on the other hand…

"It's so romantic!" Ran sighed. "Serenading her from beneath her balcony…that's such a sweet thing for a guy to do!" She paused and glanced at him. "But…then again, he can actually…ya know, sing." She gave him a sheepish smile. "Never mind."

Shinichi raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

_**-o-**_

Humming to herself, Ran paced around her room, brushing her hair one last time before bed. It had been such a good day, but she was tired and ready to sleep.

But as she sat down on the edge of her bed with every intention of skipping off to Dream Land, she heard something outside her window. At first it was so quiet that she thought she'd imagined it. But it grew louder until it was completely audible: music.

Very pretty music.

It actually sounded like a love song…

_What in the world?_ Ran stood up and moved to the window. She opened it and looked down to find the source of the noise—sure enough, he was standing on the sidewalk. "Shinichi?" she called, startled. "What in the world are you doing?"

"Well, you said you wanted a serenade," he called back. "And I can't sing. So I figured this was the next best thing, right?" He held the speaker up a little higher to emphasize his point. The music sang out from it. There was a pause before he added, "I can mouth along with it, if you want. I've got the lyrics right here." He waved a paper at her with his other hand.

It was too much—Ran started to laugh.

Shinichi waited patiently for her to stop giggling, one eyebrow quirked.

When she did stop, she brushed away tears of laughter and sat down by the window, putting one elbow on the window-sill and resting her chin in her hand. "Do you take requests?"

"…so long as they're on this CD."

"How romantic."

"I try."

Ran sighed happily. "I can't believe you did this for me."

His blush was evident even from her window…and so was his smile.

* * *

**PS.** _I'd just like to make it clear that this is **RanMouri82's** fault. Entirely. We were discussing the new Josh Groban album and how awesome it would be to have a balcony serenade from him, and lo, I had the mental image of Shinichi "serenading" Ran as only he can._

_Hope you enjoyed it—thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	8. Frigid

**Title: **Frigid**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#24—snowfall**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **There might be a reason why you're not as cold as me!

* * *

"It's COLD!" Ran muttered. She wasn't sure if Shinichi could hear her over the wind rushing past them, her coat, her scarf, and the mitten-clad fingers held in front of her face. It was a full-blown blizzard…and they had to walk to school in the middle of it. Lovely.

Apparently, Shinichi had heard her, though, and replied, "It's not that bad…"

"…yes, it really is," she retorted angrily, trying to pull her coat a bit more tightly around her. The wind had to be going about a hundred miles an hour, and the falling snow was being swept up on it and blown right into their faces. Ran was actually having trouble seeing where she was going!

"I don't get why you're so cold," Shinichi commented lightly. He was just as bundled up as she was, but where she was walking hunched over and had her arms wrapped around herself to try and preserve as much heat as possible, he was strolling along more or less upright—though he had agreed to carry her schoolbag for her so she could focus on huddling against the chill.

"You know, there might be a really good reason why you're not as cold as I am," Ran shivered and glared at him; her eyes were the only part of her face that were visible beneath her winter wear.

"What's that?" he asked.

Ran facepalmed—wasn't he supposed to be a master of observation and deduction or something to that effect? "Because, oh great detective," she snapped, giving him a look as frigid as the snow blowing around them, "take a good look at my school uniform."

He did.

And then it hit him. "…you're wearing a skirt."

"Bingo."

* * *

**PS.** _Thanks to **strawberry-chan**_ _and dear old Mother Nature for this one. We just got nailed with a GINORMOUS blizzard. Like, I got a snow-day because of it…and I live in Iowa. We know how to handle snow. So when our city shuts down because of it, you know it's a **bad**_ _storm. L'anyhoodle, thanks for reading, everyone. Much love!_


	9. Just Because

**Title: **Just Because**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#19—humility**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Here, Ran. I got you a gift.

* * *

When the truth had first come out about Conan, Mouri Ran was furious.

Okay, that was something of an understatement, and also somewhat inaccurate. She was furious and enraged and angry…and yet it also left her feeling very sad. Didn't Shinichi feel like he could trust her? Did he think it was funny to keep her dangling like that?

It had taken a long time to get things back to relative normal between them—they could never go back to exactly the way they were before, of course. But they could keep moving forward. And that's what they did, made official by the fact that within days of the official forgiveness, the two were sighted wandering around Beika hand in hand, wearing identical shy smiles.

But there was a problem: Ran was slightly paranoid. She had made the mistake of letting Shinichi run off after a case one too many times (okay, more than one too many times), and as a result, she had nearly lost him forever. So she was a little skittish about letting him too far out of her sight.

At first, Shinichi accepted her fears as normal, and tried his best to soothe those fears while abiding by her wishes. But after a while…well, the restrictions were starting to chafe just a little bit. So one day, he decided to do something about it in a manner that couldn't be ignored.

"Here, Ran!" he said as they lounged around in his library; he was smiling from ear to ear. "I got you a present—just because." As he spoke, he thrust a good-sized box into her hands. It was wrapped in pale yellow paper and had a blue bow on top. "I saw this and thought of you—I think it symbolizes our relationship at this point."

She had been surprised and no little delighted at the unexpected gift. But that last comment left her a bit wary. Something to symbolize their relationship? What in the world…

Figuring that all would be explained when she actually opened the present, she did so; she tore at the paper and finally managed to rip the box open…and stared at the item sitting in it, nestled innocently amidst white tissue paper. _Oh my Lord…there is no way he would…_

Shinichi watched with obvious amusement as a wide range of expressions flitted over her face. Then he spoke up. "You know, Ran—I think I've accepted everything with good grace and humility thus far. But…do you think we could maybe lengthen the leash a little bit?"

Ran reached down into the box and pulled out the leather dog leash before turning and giving her boyfriend a glare that would have frozen water. "Is that all? Oh good—for a minute, I was worried about what you meant by this. Point made—I'll back off."

"…what were you thinking?"

"Nothing."

"…well, if you had another thought—"

_BONK!_

* * *

**PS.** _I had this plunnie eons ago, but it kinda got shoved in the back of the junk drawer that is my mind. But I pull it out now and offer it up to you on a pretty silver plate! Yay! Hope you enjoyed more random silliness—I swear I'll try for a more serious one next time. Thanks for reading, all. Much love!_


	10. Whining and Dining

**Title: **Whining and Dining**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#8—kitchen**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **All Shinichi wanted was to make a nice dinner for Ran…

* * *

When the doorbell rang, Shinichi nearly slipped and fell in his hurry to get to the front door and answer it. Still, he took that one extra second to straighten up and smooth himself down before he actually opened the door, looking every inch the immaculate gentleman. 

Ran was standing there expectantly, and she did not look convinced. "Don't bother trying to be suave—I heard the crash," she laughed.

"You caught me," he admitted, stepped aside to allow her entrance. "Come in, come in! Make yourself at home!" He closed the door behind her and offered to take her jacket—it wasn't horribly cold outside, but there was enough of a bite in the air to warrant the extra padding.

"Thanks," she slipped her shoes off and slid into a pair of house-scuffs. The slippers did look a little out of place with the rest of her outfit; he had asked her to dress up a bit, and she had obliged. She was wearing a pale blue dress with short sleeves, a skirt that hit just below the knee, and a scoop neck.

He was quite fond of that dress; she looked lovely in it, and he told her so. "You look amazing."

"Thank you," she blushed slightly at the compliment. "So! What did you have planned for tonight, oh flattering one?"

Shinichi couldn't quite keep himself from leering. "Well, I did have a few other thoughts if you're not hungry…" His suggestion was met by a sound smack on the head. "…or I could just make you dinner?"

"That sounds good," Ran replied firmly. "What're we having?"

"It's a surprise," Shinichi grinned.

"Do you need any help? Or should I just stay out of your way?" she inched towards the kitchen.

"I want to do it myself, so get away from there!" he mock-scolded her, wagging a finger. "You hang out a while, and I'll get it all ready."

"All right," she laughed and nodded. "I'll go read in the library for a little while. But let me know if you need any help, okay?" When he disappeared into the kitchen, Ran headed toward the library as promised. But she did pause in the dining room doorway to take a look. Shinichi really had gone all out on tonight, hadn't he? The table was all set; there were candles and fancy tableware and a bouquet of flowers that she was pretty sure was for her.

She smiled and continued on her way towards the library. Shinichi…that silly boy could be so thoughtful sometimes, especially when he just let that stubborn romantic streak in him come to the fore.

**_-o-_**

If everything went according to plan, this would be one of the best, most romantic things Shinichi had ever pulled off—he wasn't very good at such things. But every once in a while, he liked to really try and do something like that for Ran.

She definitely deserved it.

Even if he sometimes sucked at it.

The dinner he had planned wasn't particularly difficult to prepare—chicken fettuccine alfredo with garlic bread and broccoli, and strawberry cheesecake for dessert. Okay, so the cheesecake wasn't homemade, but he was doing the rest of it, and that counted for something, didn't it?

And contrary to popular belief, he could cook. Granted, he wasn't as good at it as Ran, who could take any recipe and somehow improve it as she cooked it. But he could piece together a meal. After all, he had lived on his own for a number of years after his parents had jetted off to America. He'd had to learn to cook out of necessity. If he hadn't…well, living off fast food might have been tasty, but it couldn't have been very good for his wallet, his health…or his waistline. Soccer only burned so many calories!

He already had everything set out and ready to go. And now it was time to…well, get cooking. Boil the water for the pasta, simmer the alfredo, cook the chicken, microwave the broccoli, and get the garlic bread in the oven. Nothing complicated, but he knew the effort would speak volumes.

So he dove in. He got the stove going to heat the water and alfredo sauce, and got the skillet heating for the fajita-cut chicken. This certainly was easy! He was going to have this ready in no time. And then Ran would smile…he liked it when she smiled.

After waiting a little while, he turned the oven on and popped the garlic bread in. Then he turned his attention to the stove and dropped the chicken strips into the frying pan…and was surprised at how loudly they started sizzling. That was really hot and…smoking? There was smoke coming from the pan.

It didn't take a detective to figure out what had happened once he looked at the stove dials. He had been so busy thinking about other things (…okay, he was thinking about Ran) that he had turned the burners to the wrong heat settings. The one under the water was at medium heat, while the one under the chicken…was on high.

Well, that would certainly account for the smoke filling the kitchen.

Now startled, Shinichi moved. And what happened next all happened very, very fast.

Shinichi reached for the skillet in a moderate panic. As he did so, his elbow caught the pan with the water in it and knocked it off the stove; it splashed all over the floor…and his slipper-encased feet. It wasn't boiling, but it was still on the VERY warm side. He jumped and yelped in surprised and flailed with both hands. One of his arms hit the bowl with the fettuccine in it, spilling dry pasta across the hot burners.

The noodles smoked and started to burn, sending more smoke into the air. It was a wonder that the alarm hadn't gone off yet, really. He dropped the skillet with the chicken—it splashed to the ground at his feet—and grabbed the simmering alfredo and dumped it over the burning pasta with one hand while grappling with the stove dials with the other in a mad attempt to put out the fire. The sauce started bubbling, and he smelled burning cheese. Now shaken, he took a step back…

…and slipped on the soaked floor. As he fell, he managed to knock the bowl with the frozen broccoli off the counter. The glass bowl shattered, sending shards flying; he felt a sting of pain across his wrist. And as a grand finale, he managed to put his foot through the oven door and smack his head on the island counter on the way down.

All of this took perhaps fifteen seconds.

And it ended with Kudo Shinichi, world famous detective, sprawled on his kitchen floor with water sloshing around his hands and bits of chicken and broccoli and broken glass scattered around him. His foot was hanging through the glass oven door, there was a cut on his arm from the broken bowl, and dinner was continuing to turn into a smoky mess across the warm stove. AND he had taken enough of a bump to the head that he was completely immobilized.

As he lay there, stunned, all he could really do was wonder what the hell had just happened, and think was that this was awful, this was a complete disaster, there was no way that this moment could possibly get any worse…

"Shinichi?"

…scratch that. It had just gotten worse.

**_-o-_**

It was embarrassing, to say the least.

All he'd wanted to do was make a nice, romantic dinner for Ran. Something sweet and thoughtful to show how much he cared. But his good intentions had exploded in his face—literally.

So instead of ending the evening the way he had hoped (which had sort of involved some kisses and maybe a cuddle or three), he was lying on his back on the couch with his leg in Ran's lap while she bandaged up the injuries from his unfortunate battle with the oven door (winner undecided as yet). The nick on his wrist was already bandaged, but he had one hell of a headache.

Ran looked up at him and shook her head wryly before bending back to the bandages. "I can't believe it. I really can't. I can't figure out how you managed to do this to yourself…"

"I can't either," he sighed, turning his head to look at the wall. He was trying not to let on exactly how dejected he really felt about the whole situation. It was bad enough that dinner had become a war-zone like that, but then to have Ran walk in and find him there, like that, barely able to move…it wasn't just embarrassing. It was humiliating.

Still, she had taken control of the situation with her usual manner. She had done a quick check to make sure that nothing was in any further immediate danger of igniting, and then carefully pulled him from the wreckage, making certain to avoid any glass herself. Then she had pulled him to the nearest room with a couch and gone in search of a first aid kit. And now here they were.

She must have heard that note in his voice, because she looked up at him again, her fingers pausing in their work. This time, her expression was less scolding and more concerned. "Shinichi?"

"Sorry," he murmured, closing his eyes.

"For what?"

"…for screwing this up. It was supposed to be nice."

"Don't worry about it."

"Too late."

"Oh, honestly," Ran tied off the bandage and shoved his leg from her lap so the only comfortable move he could make was to sit up…which meant that he had to look at her. "Shinichi, it's fine. You tried. It just…went a little haywire, that's all."

He didn't look convinced.

Ran smiled and inched towards him, sliding along the couch cushions. "But you know…I think it's really sweet that you would go to all that trouble and planning just for me." And there was no doubt in his mind that she meant every word of it. "So…what do you say we just order some take-out and relax and watch a movie?"

Shinichi couldn't keep himself from smiling. "That's…not a bad idea."

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Good. I'll get the phone. You take it easy, you've had…quite a night." She got up and moved towards the phone. "Look at it this way—this will be a great story to tell the kids someday."

He almost chuckled, until he realized what she had just said. "Wait—kids?"

It was at that moment that Ran herself seemed to realize exactly what had come out of her mouth, and flushed a bright red. "I…err, umm…that is to say…" She looked down at the phone and then gave him a smile that was far too bright. "SO! Pizza? Pizza sounds good. I like pizza."

As she busied herself with the ordering, Shinichi remembered the cheesecake hidden away in the refrigerator, and smiled. Maybe this evening wasn't going to be a total disaster after all.

* * *

**PS.** _THIS IS NUMBAH TEN!! WHOO!! Okay, for what it's worth, I know this is probably stretching credibility just a little bit. But I did it anyway. Even my mother, who is an amazing cook, has had moments like these where everything just seems to go totally haywire. And for the record, dry pasta noodles will ignite if left on a hot burner. Not that I know that from experience or anything…cough…_

_Also, I would like to take this opportunity to make a most joyous announcement: I HAVE MY FIRST TEACHING JOB!! WHOO!!_

_But we're a third of the way done, whee! Hope you enjoyed the fic, and hope you'll come back again. Thanks for reading, all. Much love!_


	11. To Keep You Safe

**Title: **To Keep You Safe**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#15—I'll protect you**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **I just wanted to see you before everything goes down tonight.

* * *

When the phone call came, Ran was stunned; she couldn't believe her ears. Shinichi had been gone for so long, but suddenly he was asking her to come and meet him outside the park near her home. She wanted desperately to start asking the usual questions (along with a few new ones, given his abrupt request), but there was something about the tone of his voice that told her now wasn't the time for such things. 

It really wasn't a decision at all. He asked her to meet him, and she told him that she would be there in five minutes and hung up. She stared at the receiver for a few seconds, wondering what in the world had just happened and what was going on. But she recovered her wits quickly and went to grab her shoes.

Still, she paused to grab one more thing before she headed out the door to the appointed meeting place. It was dark out; the streets were relatively empty. She ran all the way there.

Shinichi was already there and waiting. She briefly wondered if he had actually called from the park and then just stayed there to wait for her; either way…he was there. She stopped a few feet away from him, trying desperately to catch her breath while she just looked at him. After so long, he was there, he was actually there. She could only hope that it was real.

He turned at her rushed approach and smiled as she skidded to a stop. "Hey," she said amiably, his voice at odds with the certain tension in his posture. "Sorry to call you out here like this on such short notice."

Ran managed a smile of her own between gasps for air. "No problem!" Like she really minded—he was here and she could see him! She would have gladly gone through fire for this moment. She straightened and looked at him eagerly. "What's up?" _What's up? Oh, brilliant…_

He walked towards her, stopping an arm's length away. Now he looked a little bit uneasy. "I wanted to see you…before everything goes down tonight."

Ran's smile faltered. "What do you mean?

He fidgeted slightly. "You know how I've been working on this really tough case? Well, tonight we're making our move. It's either going to make or break this case."

Something about his tone gave her pause. "Shinichi, is this going to be dangerous?" she asked quietly.

Shinichi was silent long enough for her to know the answer before he verbally affirmed it. "Yes. It is."

"Then why are you involved?" she asked, voice rising in alarm. "You're in high school—you're seventeen! Solving murders for the police is one thing, but you shouldn't be doing something dangerous like that! Let the police handle it! What if you get hurt, or…"

"I can't," he said simply. He rubbed at the back of his neck in a classic gesture that spoke volumes of nervousness. "Ran, I would love to hand this off and forget about it, but I just can't. I'm in way too deep for that. But hopefully after tonight, it'll be over, and…" he trailed off.

"…and you'll come home?" she finished in a whisper.

"I hope so."

They stood and just looked at each other for a long, long moment.

"I should probably go," Shinichi finally sighed. "I just wanted to see you before this all happened…" Somehow, there was an unspoken 'just in case' hanging heavily in the air between them.

Ran nodded mutely, not really wanting to say goodbye. He lingered a moment, as if hoping she would say something; when she didn't speak, he turned to walk away. She watched his retreating back for a few steps before she remembered the tiny item stowed away in her pocket, and called out to him. "Wait!"

He turned around quickly. "Yes?"

She hesitated, then hurried towards him as she withdrew something small from her pocket. "I got this idea from Kazuha-chan. I know you don't believe in this kind of thing, but…I made this, and I want you to take it with you."

Shinichi looked down at what she was holding. "An omamori?"

"It's for protection," she explained. "To keep you safe." As she spoke, she reached up to hang the charm around his neck and arrange it to her satisfaction, slipping it under the collar of his shirt. She privately felt better knowing it was hanging near his heart. "There." But she did let her fingers linger at his chest for a moment longer than was necessary before stepping back.

He lifted a hand and pressed it to his shirt, right where the omamori hung. "Ran…thank you." He didn't seem at all put-off by the idea of any 'hocus-pocus' or any such thing. If anything, he seemed genuinely touched at the gesture.

But as he started to walk away again, she was taken by a sudden urge. And she called after him again, "Shinichi!" He stopped and turned back to her. Again, she hesitated for just a second before she said, "I'm just lending it to you." At his confused look, she added, "You're borrowing it. So…you have to return to me—I mean, return _it_ to me." She felt herself go red at her accidental slip of the tongue.

Shinichi stood motionless, staring at her as comprehension dawned. Then he crossed the distance between them. He reached out and cupped her face in both hands and kissed her. It didn't seem like it was anything he had planned on doing, and it certainly wasn't expert by any means, but…

It was the sweetest moment of Ran's life.

And it was over far too soon. He drew back, lingering for one extra second and letting his fingers run through the length of her hair before he pulled back entirely and let her go. "I have to go. I really do," he whispered, taking another step away. But I'll bring this back—I'll come back to you, Ran. No matter what—even if I die…I'll find a way back to you."

"I know…" she whispered as he finally left her. He ran this time, and didn't look back. Perhaps he was afraid that if he did, he wouldn't be able to go. She waved nonetheless, knowing that he couldn't see it. "I know…" A little charm—a little piece of herself to stay with him and keep him safe when she couldn't do it herself. She hoped it would be enough…that her feelings would protect him and bring him back.

_"I know…"_

* * *

**PS.** _I rather liked this plunnie. And I humbly offer this up as a birthday present to **RanMouri82**, who is TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD today!! Ironically, last night she commented that she wanted Shinichi/Ran kissy romance, completely unaware that I had actually written exactly that for her :3 Funny how things work out, ne? So happy birthday, hon!  
_

_Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	12. Couldn't Say No

**Title: **Couldn't Say No**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#25—shut up and listen**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **It was a case Shinichi just could not refuse.

* * *

Ran was an extremely unhappy camper. And it was Shinichi's fault entirely. She thought they'd gotten past that one little bad habit of his—the one where he would run off at the drop of a hat to solve a mystery and grab the glory and never mind about her.

Apparently not.

**_-o-_**

_When Shinichi was late getting home, Ran tried not to let herself worry too much. Sometimes he would get caught up in a conversation with someone at the police station or something to that effect, or he would make a stop somewhere on the way home. Nothing out of the ordinary. So she busied herself as best she could and waited, hoping that was all there was._

_But when the phone rang twenty minutes after he was supposed to be home, she got a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She answered it quickly. "Hello?"_

_"Ran? It's me."_

_She felt partially relieved…yet still so anxious. "Shinichi, where are you? Is everything okay?"_

_"I'm fine," he said in a rush; it sounded like he was out of breath, and there was something else in his voice that he couldn't place. "Listen, Ran—I'm going to be late tonight."_

_"…why?" she asked quietly, already ninety-nine percent sure she knew exactly what his next words would be. And sure enough, he proved that she did know him too well._

_"Well…there's a case, and the vic—"_

_Between disappointment and hormones…Ran snapped. "Shut up! It's always a case, isn't it? Never mind about me!" She was overreacting and she knew it—because truth be told, he had gotten a LOT better about things. But at that moment, it was just the wrong thing at the wrong moment._

_"Ran, listen—"_

_"No thank you," she cut him off and hung up the phone without letting him finish._

_She regretted it before her hand left the receiver._

_**-o-**_

Now she was moping. No reason to sugar-coat it—moping was exactly what she was doing. And it was just as much because of her anger with herself than it was anything to do with Shinichi…maybe even more so.

She thought briefly that Shinichi had been trying to explain himself when she hung up on him. And she couldn't help but wonder exactly what sort of explanation he had. He had sounded rather harried…

She also wondered why she was flipping out like this. He mood swings seemed to be getting more and more violent as of late, and she had almost no control over it.

All in all, she felt really crappy.

Deciding against just sitting down by the phone and sulking, she headed up the stairs to their bedroom. She crawled into bed without bothering to change out of her day clothes and into pajamas. She felt tired and upset and guilty and angry and god, she couldn't wait until certain things were over and her moods returned to normal. She turned off the lights and pulled the blankets up around her…and stared into the darkness.

She wasn't sure what to think. On the one hand, she understood why he did what he did. He saved lives and helped find justice for lives already lost. In simplest terms, he caught the bad guys. Her husband was a hero, and precious few others could do what he did, and sometimes she just had to respect that.

And he _had _been getting better, truth be told.

Damn mood swings…

Sighing, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. Shinichi would come home eventually, and she would apologize, and everything would be just fine. In the meantime, she just felt awful.

Hopefully Shinichi wouldn't be too upset with her overreaction…

_**-o-**_

When she opened her eyes again, it was daylight…and she was still alone in bed.

Ran sat up and looked around in alarm. It didn't look like anyone else had been in the room on the initial glance, and the bedding didn't show evidence of anyone else having joined her. Had Shinichi not come home? Had something happened to him? Was he—

…there was a rose on the pillow beside her.

A single red rose.

She picked it up carefully and just looked at it. Then she rolled out of bed and headed for the hall; she went down the stairs in search of her husband.

She found him at the dining room table. He was sound asleep with his head pillowed on his arms and a wealth of papers scattered around his head. Ran inched in for a closer look, and recognized the mess as the contents of an average police case-file. Probably the case from the night before.

Shinichi, like her, was still in his clothes from the previous day. He' shed his blazer, though, and rolled his shirtsleeves up to his elbows. It he'd had to bring the case home with him, it must have been a tough one.

Ran was about to sneak away and let him sleep a little longer when something on the table caught her eye—namely, a photograph. She carefully reached over him and took the picture for a closer look. The person in the photo proved to be a child: a little girl with long hair in pigtails and eyes that spoke volumes of mischief and life. She was absolutely adorable…but why was a child's picture inside the case-file?

She didn't notice that Shinichi had shifted as she studied the photo. It wasn't until he spoke that she realized he'd opened his eyes. "What're you looking at?" he asked. He sounded exhausted, far more tired than he usually was after a case.

"This picture," she replied. "Cute little girl."

There was a long pause before Shinichi spoke again. "Her name is Yuki. She's five years old," he closed his eyes again. "…and she was the victim of the case I was working. She and her mother were both murdered last night."

Ran's heart sank as the photo fell from her hand to the tabletop. "Oh no…"

He finally sat up and sighed, letting her see exactly how weary he looked. "That's what I was trying to tell you when I called last night. I was leaving police headquarters when Megure caught me and asked me to go on this case. I tried to turn him down, but when he told me the one of the victims was supposedly a kid…I just couldn't say no."

Suddenly she felt even worse about her outburst the night before—he did have a damned good reason. Murder was always tragic, but there was something even more heartbreaking about it when the victim was an innocent child. One hand slid to her stomach in an unconscious protective gesture. "Did you solve it?"

"Yes," he said. "Wasn't actually too hard. Yuki's dad apparently came home from work yesterday and killed his wife and daughter, and then ran for it. That much wasn't really too tough to piece together in terms of evidence…" He didn't elaborate on that, but she suspected that while the evidence was easy enough, the emotional ramifications were straining. "The tough part was really figuring out where the guy was going. Did some really fast calling around, got a lead, and got it nailed down. They picked him up late last night at the train station."

"Do you know why he did it?" Ran asked softly. She put her hand on his shoulder.

Shinichi massaged the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "No. I told Megure everything he needed to know, said he could call if he needed me, and then I came home. I didn't go along for the interrogation. All of this," he gestured vaguely towards the papers, "were notes. I was looking back over them…and I guess I fell asleep."

Ran stood motionless for a moment. Then she lifted her hand to touch the side of his face, and that was all the encouragement he needed. He leaned his head against her stomach and closed his eyes while she ran her fingers through his hair. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he murmured. "But on the way home I just started thinking about us and you and the baby and…I can't figure it out. What would make a guy do that to his family?" He sighed. "I'd rather shoot myself than hurt you or the baby…"

"But you made sure he'll pay for what he did to that poor little girl and her mom," Ran pointed out, trying to think of some way to ease things for him. "Nothing's going to reverse what he did, but he's not getting away with it. That's really all you can do."

"I know…"

Ran pressed gently on the top of his head so he had to tilt back and look up at her. "I'm sorry I got so mad last night. And," she pressed a kiss to his forehead, "you're going to be a great dad."

"You and your mood swings," he managed a weak chuckle, and she knew that the apology was probably not needed, but accepted nonetheless. "I think I might be lost without you." That last was punctuated by a deep yawn. "And I think I need to sleep, but if Megure calls—"

Ran shook her head. "Go to bed. Get some rest. If the phone rings, I'll wake you up. And we'll just reschedule last night's plans. We could go out tonight instead, maybe? Get your mind off things?"

He stood up and leaned in to give her a quick kiss. "You've got a deal."

* * *

**PS.** _This is another one of those ideas that started out completely different in my head, then morphed in my head, and then morphed again almost as soon as it hit the page. So it turned out waaaaay different than the original plunnie. L'anyhoodle, hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading, all. Much love!_


	13. A Little Bit Obsessed

**Title: **A Little Bit Obsessed**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#12—hobbies**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?

* * *

Shinichi had his eleven-year-old nose buried in a mystery novel again, and Ran was getting annoyed.

Honestly—the boy couldn't put the darn books down for love or money. She was standing right there, having come over to hang out for a while, and he wouldn't stop reading long enough to even acknowledge her presence. It wasn't that she minded him having hobbies or anything like that, but…hello? Common manners, anyone?

She was honestly trying to decide whether she should clobber him…or just leave and see how long it took him to notice that she was gone and call her to ask why she'd left. At which point she would yell at him.

But it drove her nuts. It seemed like she was always playing second fiddle to his stupid mystery novels and Sherlock Holmes and all that dump stuff! Shinichi was a nice guy, and he could be a really good friend…but he was just a little bit obsessed about mysteries, and it tended to cause some nice friction between them.

Finally, Ran got fed up with being ignored. And she decided that she wasn't going to go down without a fight. She grabbed the book out of his hands. "SHINICHI!"

He jumped a mile, leaving her to wonder if he really hadn't known that she was here. "Ran? What was that for?"

"I'm here! Pay attention to me!" she said, folding her arms with his book still in her hand.

Shinichi just stared at her. "But…but…I love that book!" He reached at her to try and grab the book out of her hand.

Ran dodged and stepped back, keeping the book just out of his reach. They glared at each other for a moment before she decided it just wasn't worth it, and tossed the book at him; she watched as he juggled it for a moment before finally catching it. "If you love it so much, why don't you just marry it?"

She expected a witty retort or an angry comment leading that would open the door to an argument or something like that. Instead, he just kind of stared at her with this weird look on his face. And he was going awfully red…

Ran blinked. "Shinichi?"

He shook himself. "W-what?"

"…never mind," she sighed. "So do you want to do something or not?"

* * *

**PS.** _A rather long time ago, I asked a bunch of my friends to give me characters or pairings and prompts to go with them. I wrote them all down on my Page o' Plunnies to work through as I got to them. And my dear friend **RanMouri82** gave me this one for Shinichi and Ran. After a few…not-humorous ones, we get something a little on the lighter side of Sears._

_Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	14. Nocturne

**Title: **Nocturne**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#27—forgive without forgetting**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **I can help you forget all about her…

* * *

As far as bars went, this was a relatively nice one—clean, well-decorated, and void of the kind of patrons that might make messes or start drunken brawls. It was a classy place where someone not interested in fights or anything like that could go and meet friends or sit and contemplate the mysteries of the universe in a smoky atmosphere. 

It was into this dimly-lit place that a young man walked. He seemed to be in his early twenties, and bore the sort of handsome, well-chiseled features that instantly drew the attention of every single female in the room. He was well-dressed and cut a fine figure in a dark navy suit and white shirt, the collar open.

A few who glanced his way as he came in thought he looked familiar somehow, and fewer were able to actually put a name with the face. But no one bothered him as he moved to a seat at the bar and ordered a drink, speaking to no one but the bartender.

He had been sitting there long enough to nearly finish his first drink before someone approached him. "Kudo, right?" He turned to look at the person who had addressed him: a young woman, also seemingly in her early twenties. She was quite pretty, and dressed similarly well. "Kudo Shinichi, isn't it?

"Yes, miss," he said quietly.

She smiled. "I thought so. I've seen you on the news—you're the great detective. They say you can solve even the most impossible case." She cocked her head to one side. "Are you alone?"

"Yes, I am."

She didn't bother with any further inquiries; she took a seat on the vacant stool beside him. "I find that hard to believe. Do you have a girlfriend?" When he shook his head, she looked surprised. "Unbelievable. A smart, handsome, famous guy like you? Here all alone, no girlfriend…nothing?"

"It's not so bad," he shrugged.

"…was there someone?" she asked.

He chuckled lightly. "You're a shrewd one. But yes, there was."

"Oh?" she arched a perfectly-shaped eyebrow. "What happened?"

It felt like this woman was prying a bit more than was her place, but he decided that he really didn't mind. "I made a mistake, and we had a fight…and that was the end of it." He remembered when she had learned the truth, and the emotional battle that had followed, culminating in an ultimatum: she never wanted to see him again.

"Just like that? One little mistake and it was over?" the woman seemed surprised. "She would just give up a prize like you? Bet you must hate her."

"Actually…I don't," he said. "I forgive her. I don't blame her for her decision."

"How long ago was this?"

"Three years."

"And you've been alone all this time?"

"Yes. Again, it's not so bad."

"Well…" she stood up and gave him a predatory look, tempered by unmistakable lust. "Why don't you come with me? Go somewhere where we can be alone? Trust me—I can help you forget all about her." There was no doubt as to her intentions, should she actually get him somewhere alone.

He looked down at the last swallow of amber-colored liquid in the bottom of his glass before looking back up at her with a small smile. "Thank you, but I'll have to pass."

To say she looked stunned was an understatement; it was obvious that she couldn't believe that he had just rejected her offer of a tryst. He wondered briefly if she was unaccustomed to men refusing her—she certainly was lovely, and she had the air of one who was no stranger to such encounters.

It really wasn't any of her business, but she looked so stricken that he felt he should elaborate. "You see, the problem is…" He looked back down at his glass; his smile turned sad. "…I don't want to forget."

She stared at him for a moment, and he wondered if she was going to get angry. But instead she just turned and briskly walked away—her gait was tense, and she was clearly angry. But to her credit, she hadn't pushed the issue, and she had left him alone.

Shinichi was still for a moment, then tilted back and downed the last dregs from his glass. He set it down on the bar. For a moment, he looked thoughtful. Then he signaled the bartender. "One more, please."

It was just one of those nights.

* * *

**PS.** _This was inspired (at least partially) by the classic jazz song "Harlem Nocturne." That's also where the title came from. It's one of my favorite instrumental jazz pieces—FANTASTIC on saxophone. But the lyrics (written separately from the song) are what got me writing this. They're included on the LJ version of this fic._

_This is totally different from most of my Shin/Ran stuff, ne? It was almost tempting to go further with it and have Ran actually be in the fic (like…she's in the bar and sees his exchange with the woman or something like that, and it goes from there), but I decided that this was really the way to go._

_Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	15. Accosted

**Title: **Accosted**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#10—romance**  
Rating: **PG-13 **_(LANGUAGE WARNING)_  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **He left for just a moment, and they decided to make their move. Language warning.

* * *

When Shinichi invited her out for a romantic dinner, Ran was delighted—until she found out he wanted to take her to the restaurant at the top of the sky-scraper, where they had gone once before, when he had run off to solve a mystery on an elevator…and never returned. Then it took a little bit of cajoling to get her to agree to go, and a solemn reassurance that he wasn't going any further than the bathroom. And if he didn't come back, she had full permission to kill him or beat him or whatever punishment she felt was suitable.

Needless to say, Shinichi was not planning on running off.

Once the big night came, though, Ran found that her fears were immediately put to rest. Shinichi was a perfect gentleman from the moment he knocked on her door, bearing a bouquet of daisies, wearing a dark blue suit and a big smile. His smile had gotten a little bit bigger when he saw her, though—she was dressed up in a pale blue dress that she knew he loved. He ushered her to his car and opened her door for her before scooting around to take his place in the driver's seat.

When they got to the restaurant, he again opened her door for her, and pulled her chair out for her at the table. He really was being a wonderfully attentive date, and Ran was confident that he wasn't going to go gallivanting off to solve a mystery tonight. Still, she couldn't help but hope that no one decided to drop dead in the building tonight.

It was wonderfully romantic—a candle was burning in a holder on the table, they had a table by the window with a perfect view of the starry night sky…so far, it was an amazing night. But Ran couldn't help thinking that Shinichi seemed a little…antsy. He was acting a little preoccupied. But she ultimately put it off to her imagination.

It was strange sometimes, though—since the fall of the Black Organization, Kudo Shinichi was a household name. He was an internationally famous detective for his admittedly-huge role in the Syndicate's destruction, and as such, he tended to run into fans wherever he went. People came up to the table and shook his hand and excitedly introduced themselves. A few asked for autographs, and one asked for a picture with him. He accepted the publicity with cheerful aplomb, but he had confessed to her on a couple of occasions that while he was proud of what he had done against the Syndicate, the fame could be a little embarrassing…and sometimes even a bit annoying.

Ran took it in stride. She knew that he was trying, and she always had a willing ear in Kazuha-chan, who was having a similar problem with Hattori-kun. He had achieved similar superstar status for his role in the Syndicate's downfall.

After they had been sitting for a while, Shinichi sheepishly confessed that he did, in fact, need to leave for a moment. Ran heckled him a little bit, then told him that yes, he was permitted to go use the restroom. He just had to come back after he was done—and also wash his hands, since she was planning to hold them at some point. He laughed and got up to go take care of his private business.

Ran watched him walk away and sighed happily before turning her gaze to the window and the stars in the clear night sky. What a wonderful night this was turning out to be…

"Excuse us."

A female voice interrupted Ran's thoughts, and she turned to see three girls standing beside her table. They were all around her own age, pretty and dressed appropriately for a restaurant of this caliber. Something about them seemed to give off an aura of good breeding and money. But there was also something in the way they were studying her that made Ran very nervous. Still, she offered a smile and said, "Yes?"

"We were just wondering," the girl in the middle spoke—she was wearing a pale pink dress. "That guy here with you—that's Kudo Shinichi, isn't it? The famous detective?"

Ran nodded. "Yes, it is."

The three girls exchanged looks. Then the one on the left spoke—she was wearing purple. "Okay…so can you tell us…what in the world he's doing here with homely little thing like you?"

Ran felt her eyes widen at the insult. "I…what?"

The third girl—this one in green—folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, come on. Kudo Shinichi is the hottest thing in the world right now. He's famous—and he's hot. Why is he wasting his time taking someone like you to a nice place like this?"

"Someone like…me?" Ran couldn't quite compute what they were saying.

"Sweetie, look in the mirror," Purple scoffed. "You're certainly not god's gift to men."

One hand unconsciously slid to her hair.

"Kudo Shinichi should be with someone a lot more beautiful and glamorous," Pink added, tossing her hair back with one hand. "He's a superstar, after all. And you…well, you certainly don't fit the bill."

Green leaned down to address Ran. "So how do you hold onto him exactly? Certainly can't be with your looks." She smirked at the stricken look on Ran's face. "I'll bet you put out, don't you? That's the only way—you just play his little whore and he keeps you around."

"How dare you—" Ran stood up, enraged, but her protest was interrupted.

Pink smirked. "I'll go you one better—I've seen pictures of you with Hattori Heiji."

Purple gasped. "The detective from Osaka? God, he's hot stuff too!"

Pink nodded. "Oh yeah. So do you fuck around with him, too? He's a nice piece."

"Wow…you really are a little whore, aren't you?" Green shook her head.

Ran looked from one girl to the next to the next and back again. Who were these girls? And what were they talking about? She and Hattori-kun were just friends, and had been for a couple of years. Hattori-kun had a girlfriend of his own—Kazuha-chan. And while the Osakan detective might have his faults, infidelity was definitely not one of them. Nor was it one of Ran's. "How dare you say such things!" she snapped.

Her angry reply fell on deaf ears.

Green let out a gasp, as though she had just remembered something—but it had the air of being completely phony. Actually, nothing about any of these girls seemed real; they were fake, through and through. "Didn't Kudo leave town while he was investigating the Syndicate?"

Purple nodded. "Oh, that's right! He did—I heard that he was gone for quite a while…" She turned a very measuring eye on Ran. "So how many guys did you screw around with while he was gone, hmm? Go on, give us a number. We're just dying to know."

"None!" Ran said indignantly, hands clenching into fists at her sides. "Shinichi and I weren't even together then! We're not…who are you and what do you want? Why are you doing this?" She felt numerous eyes on her, and realized that a good number of the restaurant patrons were watching the scene. That's really what this had turned into—these girls had accosted her and started a scene. Ran felt her cheeks flush scarlet, both from anger at their horrible accusations…and shame over the fact that they were doing it in front of countless strangers. Her eyes were starting to burn with humiliated tears that she stalwartly refused to shed in front of these girls.

"You need to learn your place," Pink snarled, pointing one perfectly manicured nail at Ran's forehead. "Stay the hell away from Kudo—he shouldn't be seen with some little slut like you. He should be with someone like us. You see, we love him, and we—"

"Have gone too far."

The icy male voice dropped into the middle of the conversation so suddenly that all the participants jumped. The three girls whipped around. "Who the hell are you to—oh!" Purple's voice went from irate to sugary sweet as soon as she saw who it was that had interrupted. "Kudo-san! It's you!"

Kudo Shinichi was standing behind them; his hands were shoved casually into his pockets, and his expression was as close to murderous as Ran had ever seen him sport. And his dark glare was directed equally at all three of the girls hovering over Ran with all the subtlety and charm of a swarm of vultures preparing to rip apart a particularly disgusting piece of carrion.

Ran felt even more humiliated. Now Shinichi was here to fight her battles for her, it seemed. Or worse yet…what if he actually believed some of the horrible lies they were spouting? What if he actually believed that she had cheated on him with Hattori-kun? If he did…she wasn't sure she could bear it. She was barely holding back tears now.

Shinichi took a deep breath before he spoke in a low, angry voice. "You three are absolutely disgusting."

Their collective shock was palatable to the entire room. "But—but—we're your biggest fans!" Green protested. "We love you!"

"We're just protecting you from her," Purple added, pointing an accusatory finger at Ran.

Pink opened her mouth to say something, but Shinichi waved a hand to silence them. "You know, a lot of girls have told me that kind of thing—yet somehow, they've all managed to love me without feeling the need to attack my date. Now go away. I do not ever want you to come near me or Ran again. And," his glare grew even darker, "if I EVER hear of you bothering my fiancée again, I will let you deal with the police for harassment."

That got everyone's attention—including Ran's. She stared at him. _Fiancée?_

The girls stammered a few attempts at protests before they took off. They nearly tripped over each other in their attempts to get away. Purple did manage to cast a murderous glare over her shoulder at Ran as she moved away. The entire restaurant was silent, shocked by the display they had just witnessed.

Once the three girls were out of sight, Shinichi's anger melted away into concern. "Ran, are you all right?"

She didn't want to cry—not here, not now, not with so many people staring at her—but she couldn't stop herself. As the first tear slipped down her cheek, she put her face in her hands. "That was…so humiliating…" Around her, she swore she heard whispers as people starting murmuring to their dining companions. They were probably talking about her—how horrible she was, all the things those girls had said…

Shinichi's hands touched her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. "Shh…don't pay them any mind."

"Kudo-san?" a man with a nametag on his lapel approached them. "I'm the manager—I'm very sorry. We are asking those young women to leave and not come back." He turned his attention to Ran, who was still trying valiantly to stop crying. "Miss…I am sorry. Is there anything we can do to—"

Ran waved a hand and took a shaky breath. "It wasn't your fault."

The manager—who did seem very concerned over what had happened—apologized again and offered them free dining for the evening, anything they wanted from the menu. When asked, Ran accepted the apology and the offer, saying again that she did not hold the restaurant responsible for what had happened. A glance around proved that a lot of people were still watching the action.

But during a break in the conversation, as the manager was turning to instruct a waitress to their table, Ran decided to ask the big question that was on her mind. "Shinichi…when you told them off and told them not to bother me again…you called me your fiancée?"

"Yes, I did."

Ran felt herself blush again. "Shinichi, I'm not your fiancée."

"I know," Shinichi said. As he turned to face her, he withdrew one hand from his pocket to produce a small box—the size of a box from a jewelry store. "But I was wondering if you would like to be."

It took Ran a moment to realize what he was asking, and she gasped, clasping both her hands over her mouth. "Sh—Shinichi!" Around them, they heard surprised gasps and whispers from the unwitting spectators.

He held up a hand, and the murmurs quieted down. "Wait—please, let me do this right. This whole night was supposed to be romantic, but that kind of got messed up. So at least let this go right."

Ran's knees felt like water, and she sank into her chair. She watched as he took a deep breath and seemed to compose himself before he lowered himself to one knee in front of her. The entire place seemed to be holding its breath as everyone looked on; even the cooks had stuck their heads out from the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about.

But when he looked up at her, there were no doubts or reservations at all in his face or his eyes. He took the ring out of the box and took her hand in his own, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of his before he spoke. "Mouri Ran, I love you. I love you more than anyone else in the world. Will you marry me?"

The tears were welling up again, and this time from joy. Her hand was still over her mouth; she realized she couldn't actually speak. So she just nodded emphatically and gave his hand a squeeze.

He stood up, still holding her hand, and slid the ring onto her finger. Then he gently tugged on her hand to pull her to her feet and into his arms. He kissed her without hesitation or care for the fact that they had an audience…and if he noticed that the rest of the restaurant patrons were applauding, he didn't indicate it. Or maybe he just didn't care.

Ran certainly didn't.

* * *

**PS.** _This is another one of those ideas that got shoved into the Junk Drawer of my mind a while ago and forgotten until recently. For those of you who have never done it, writing characters like those girls is actually kind of fun. But this is an example of fangirls gone mad—and I have heard stories of fans who have done things as crazy as this. Or crazier. So the moral of the story is…DON'T BE A CRAZY FANGIRL!_

_And with this…I am half-done with this challenge. WHEE! Fifteen more tog go! Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	16. Hands

**Title: **Hands**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#29—see the world my way**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **She should have been angry. But she was just…tired. And sad.

* * *

Ran felt like she should be furious.

Shinichi had lied to her for all this time. And like a complete sucker, she had let herself be duped over and over again, believing the excuses and phony reasons for his absence because she simply could not believe that her lifelong best friend would lie to her like that. She had even gone so far as to tell Conan secrets—things she never would have told Shinichi.

She really thought that she should be livid over it all. But really, she was just…tired. And sad.

Maybe it was because she had seen first-hand what the responsible parties were capable of.

Or maybe it was because "what they were capable of" had left Shinichi comatose, barely alive, and in the intensive care unit. He had been rushed into surgery immediately upon his arrival in the emergency room.

They had saved him. By what magic she didn't know. But he was alive, though still in critical condition.

And she had finally been allowed to go into his room, after what seemed an infinity of waiting. When she walked in, she was stunned at how much machinery was pulled up around him and plugged into him. Even from just inside the door, she could see how pale he was; it didn't help that the sheets wrapped around him were white.

Ran moved to his bedside and found that he was even more ghostly up close. He was not yet strong enough to breathe completely on his own, and so a breathing mask had been placed over his mouth and nose to help, obscuring the bottom half of his face.

Were he conscious, he probably would have been very embarrassed for her to see him like this. He was always so independent; he hated for anyone to see him vulnerable. It was a weakness.

But…what would he think if he knew how she saw him right then? She didn't see him as weak or even necessarily vulnerable. She saw suffering and pain and loss and the end of a very long, awful road. He wasn't weak—he was exhausted, and rightfully so.

She just hoped that for right now, at least, he could see things her way. If not, she would have to convince him.

Ran waited, lost in her thoughts, until he opened his eyes. He didn't focus in on anything in particular for a few moments. His half-lidded gaze floated around the room, not really seeming to see anything until they passed over her, where they paused and finally focused in.

He was still drugged to the teeth from his surgery; chances were that he wouldn't be able to count to one anytime soon. But he saw her. He recognized her. He might not be aware of anything else around him, but at that moment he knew that she was there. Somehow, that made something warm flutter in her stomach.

"Hey, sunshine," she said softly. She reached out and let her fingers carefully brush his hair back, trailing over the cool skin on his forehead. "Welcome back."

Between the medications and the breathing mask, it was probably very difficult (if not impossible) for him to speak. Still, it looked like his mouth was moving and he was attempting to say something, but with no success.

Ran shook her head. "Shh…don't talk." As she said this, she slid her fingers down his arm and into his fingers; she gave them a careful squeeze, not sure if it was all right to do so. She didn't want to hurt him.

Still, he returned the gesture.

Feeling a little bit daring, she gingerly lifted his hand from the bed. It didn't seem to hurt him or cause him any discomfort, and so she held his hand between both of hers and lifted it further to hold it near her heart. It was beating like crazy by then.

Shinichi squeezed her hand again. It really seemed the only thing he could do answer her or let her know that he was there with her, though he was only barely conscious.

Normally, she wouldn't have let his hands anywhere near her heart—or rather, the area over her heart, thank you very much. But now it seemed so right. "Can you feel my heart?" she asked quietly. When she squeezed her hand again, she felt tears burning in her eyes. "If you'll have it…it's yours." There. She said it.

Time stood still.

Shinichi squeezed her hand again, but this time he didn't ease the pressure right away. Instead, he just held on. It was a silent response, but the meaning was relatively clear: _I'm not letting go._

Ran wanted to sob. Instead, she pulled his hand up to her lips and pressed a quick kiss to the back of his knuckles. He responded by turning his hand to let his palm rest against her cheek; she could feel him shaking, a sign of how much effort it was really taking for him to even reach out and touch her like that.

It was all he could really tell her without being able to speak. But his eyes said what his voice and touch could not.

* * *

**PS.** _I scribbled this out in my notebook, and underneath it I have written the world WAFF in big letters. Yikes to the sugary fluff here. But anyway, this theme has cycled through about three or four different plunnies before it wound up with this one. I TRIUMPH OVER YOU, THEME! Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	17. Saying It To Your Face

**Title: **Saying It To Your Face**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#23—what you say, what you mean**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Ran…you haven't told ME how you feel.

* * *

Trying to find his footing after the Black Organization's fall wasn't easy, but Shinichi was attacking the challenge with a great amount of enthusiasm. That was due, in part, to the fact that he was himself again, and a lot of people really didn't know how to deal with his "little secret."

The toughest situation, of course, was how to handle things with Ran. She told him aloud that she forgave him, but her eyes told a different story. This was driven home when she would avoid him with seemingly-legitimate excuses. He was seeing less and less of her, and it hurt. After quite a while of this, he decided that the best way to handle it was a frontal confrontation. Would it be easy? Absolutely not. But…he had to ask her something…

Needless to say, Ran was not quite as pleased as she should have been (had she truly forgiven him) when he appeared on her doorstep one morning. She had just finished putting the breakfast things away when the knock came on the door. "Shinichi!" she said, her hand tightening around the doorknob.

He smiled slightly. "Thought I would drop by and say hello.

"Oh…I see. Come in." It was stilted and forced, but he took the invitation. For a few minutes, they stood there engaged in what was little more than small talk. It only served to further highlight the tension between them. But finally, she spoke up. "Shinichi, what do you want? Why are you here?"

Shinichi swallowed hard, then said, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Then ask," Ran said quietly, folding her arms. She was feeling a bit defensive.

"I wanted to know…" he started, faltered, then tried again. "Would you tell me?"

Ran's eyes widened. "Tell you what?"

"…how you feel about me."

She looked stunned. "W-what?"

"Please. Tell me how you feel," he repeated. "Even if it's that you hate me and you never want to see me again, tell me." He slid one hand up to rub at the back of his neck, a classic gesture that betrayed volumes of nerves.

"I…what…" she started to say something, then closed her eyes and shook her head at him as she yelled, "Stop mocking me! If you don't feel the same way, just say so!" She turned, as though to flee; as she moved, he saw something sparkling on her eyelashes.

"No, Ran—listen!" he reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her from running away. "Ran, please!" He was actually surprised when she hesitated, and then stopped. But she didn't turn around to look at him, and he didn't dare let go of her. He wasn't going to lose her now. "I don't think I'm being clear. What I mean is—"

"I told you I forgive you!" she said, her voice hoarse.

"And then you're avoiding me," he said flatly. "I'm just trying to figure things out."

She was silent for a moment before she said, "…you already know how I feel about you. Remember? I told you."

He was actually surprised to feel himself smile. "No, Ran. You didn't."

"What?" she whipped around to look him squarely in the eye. "What are you talking about? Yes, I did! And you have yet to give me any sort of an answer. Which, by the way, is way past due. I told you the night you vanished."

"No, you didn't," he repeated. "You told Conan."

Now she looked confused. "What? But…you were Conan."

"Right," he said gently. "You told Conan how you felt about Shinichi. You never actually told me."

Comprehension dawned, and her eyes widened. "Oh…"

He loosened his grip on her arm and dropped his hand to take hold of her hand instead. "So…will you tell me?" He had sort of wondered if the reason she was avoiding him so diligently was because of the exchange they'd had that first night he had been Conan, where she had unintentionally told him exactly how she felt about him. Put simply, she was embarrassed.

Ran looked like she was about to answer, but paused and then said, "You tell me first."

"What, that I love you?" he said easily. After practicing saying those three important little words in front of the mirror for over an hour before coming over here, it damn well better come out with relatively little effort. "I love you. And I'll tell you as often as you want to hear it."

"Hope you're ready to say it a lot," Ran said, raising an eyebrow. Still, she couldn't hide her growing smile, and she gave his hand a squeeze. "I love you, too."

* * *

**PS.** _I think that this idea worked out a little bit better in my head. Oh well. Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	18. Not Quite Eden

**Title: **Not Quite Eden**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#14—trees**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **The Garden of Eden was sometimes called Paradise…

* * *

As they walked along the streets of Beika one afternoon, Shinichi passed Ran an envelope; it was addressed to him, and bore a postmark that said it had probably arrived that morning. It had already been torn open. "This came in the mail," he said. "Take a look."

She pulled the small white card from the envelope and read it over quickly. "Wow…sounds like a big party! Next week…are you going?" she asked.

"I haven't replied to them yet," he said. "I wanted to talk to you first. It says I can bring a guest, and I was wondering if you would be interested in being my date." He grinned cheekily.

Ran's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah!" he said cheerily. "And even if the party isn't that great, we can have fun joking about it—or we can even leave early if it's really that much of a drag. I wouldn't be opposed to that at all. And I know for a fact that there will be a couple of familiar faces there—Hattori called me this morning. He got the same invite, and he's bringing Kazuha-san. So what do you say?"

"It sounds like it could be fun…" she replied slowly, reading over the decorative invitation again, requesting the attendance of one, Kudo Shinichi and guest at a party to unveil some collector's private art collection. Shinichi was barely out of high school, and he was already considered to be among the toast of Tokyo society. "But…it's black tie? So what should I wear?"

His eyes were definitely sparkling at that question, but all he said was, "Something nice." At that point, they had arrived at her door, and he left her with a smile and a kiss on the cheek before he went on his way.

**_-o-_**

When Ran called her mother later that night and mentioned the party, Eri got rather excited on the other end of the line. And so it came to pass that Ran found herself whisked away to go shopping with her mother in the quest for the perfect dress to make Shinichi-kun's eyes pop out of his head. Or so Eri called it, causing Ran to blush like mad.

"I wonder what I should do about Dad, though," Ran pondered out loud over dinner. "He really didn't seem too happy about me going to this party with Shinichi when I told him about it…" She sighed and sat back in her chair. "You'd think he would have warmed up to Shinichi by now."

Eri smiled knowingly. "Your father is far too stubborn for his own good. He refuses to openly accept Shinichi-kun as a matter of pride—especially after the whole Conan fiasco. But I wouldn't worry about it." When Ran didn't look terribly convinced, she went on. "…but if you're that concerned, why don't I stop by the agency on the night of the party? You might need some help getting ready and such."

The words were innocent enough, but the tone behind them was definitely conspiratorial. Ran grinned. "I think that's a wonderful idea!"

"Good," Eri nodded approvingly. "Now let's finish and go find you a dress."

Once the last bite had been polished off and the check had been paid, they resumed their great search. And finally, ten minutes before the building they were shopping in closed…they found it. The perfect dress.

Mother and daughter looked at each other and grinned. _Oh yeah…_

**_-o-_**

When the Big Night rolled around a mere week later, Shinichi did as the invitation instructed and dressed up to the nines. Granted, he was fairly accustomed to suits and ties, having learned relatively early on that if one dressed like an adult, one was more likely to be taken seriously in spite of one's relative youth. Still, going full-out like this was above even his usual dress code.

But when he stepped back and took a good look at himself, decked out in a tuxedo and all the required accessories, he couldn't help but grin at his reflection. He looked pretty damn good, if he did say so himself. He just hoped that Ran thought the same.

He grabbed his keys—best birthday present his parents had ever given him—and headed out to pick up his date. He was definitely eager to see Ran; she had mentioned that her mother had taken her shopping for a new dress for the occasion, and he couldn't wait to see it.

He pulled up in front of her house right on time, put the car in park, and all but sprinted up the stairs. _Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!_ He knocked on the door and waited eagerly, hopping slightly from one foot to the other. He felt like a little kid at Christmas…

Okay, bad analogy.

The door opened and Eri smiled out at him. "Ah, Shinichi-kun! You look wonderful. Ran's almost ready."

He grinned. Though things had been a little bit tense after the Syndicate's fall and the truth about Conan's identity, he and Eri had managed to see eye to eye fairly well…though he knew full well that if he ever hurt Ran or laid so much as an inappropriate finger on her (that Ran did not approve of, at least), then he would be very, very dead at her mother's hand.

"Shinichi?" Ran's voice came from the room behind her mother before he could actually say anything to Eri, and a second later she appeared in the doorway. "Ready to go?"

When her saw her, Shinichi felt his lower jaw unhinge itself and go on a crash course through the stairs at his feet. It didn't hurt that Ran was naturally lovely to begin with. And it also didn't hurt that red was his favorite color, nor did it hurt that she loved fantastic in red. So to see her standing there in a long red gown (strapless, he noted gleefully) with a white wrap draped around her shoulders was an answer to all of his prayers…and a few of his more interesting dreams.

"…wow," he managed.

Ran giggled, and Eri looked no less than triumphant at his goggled reaction. She stepped past her mother to join him outside the door, then turned back. "Thanks for everything, Mom!"

"You two have fun," Eri waved them off with a smile. "I'm going to get let your father out now." At Shinichi's questioning look, the lawyer simply said, "He just didn't want to behave himself." She went back inside and closed the door as the couple headed down the stairs towards the car.

As he slowly floated from Cloud Nine back down to Earth, Shinichi noticed a couple of other things. For one, she had some very sparkly things at her neck and throat that he didn't remember her wearing before; he wondered briefly if they were real. Secondly, he realized that Ran's height (as relative to his) indicated that she was wearing heels…and in his mind, heels meant legs. And it went without saying that Shinichi liked Ran's legs.

He did sprint ahead a few steps to open the car door for her, and grinned at her expression when she saw the bouquet of roses sitting on the passenger seat. "You really went all-out on this, didn't you?" she said, obviously delighted at the gesture; she lifted the flowers and breathed the fragrance in.

"I might not have an opportunity like this again for a while," he said, waving her into the car. "Better take the chance while I've got it." He threw her a wink before he closed the door and hurried around to the driver's seat. He climbed into the car and started the ignition before he turned to her and smiled. "By the way, I didn't actually come right out and say it, but…you look great."

It was too dark to actually see it, but judging by the way she smiled and turned her head slightly to look down at the roses in her lap, he figured she was probably blushing. "Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself."

He grinned and leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek before he put the car in drive and they headed off.

**_-o-_**

"Oi, Kudo!"

How Kazuha had gotten that guy into that nice of a suit was something Shinichi doubted he would ever figure out. The girl had to be some sort of miracle worker, he privately thought. At the very least, she was a good influence on Hattori. A good, LOUD influence, who was currently greeting Ran with a hug and mutual exclamations about how nice they both looked.

The two detectives greeted each other with a bit less squealing and a handshake. "Nice to see you," Shinichi said.

"Glad you're here. I'll have someone to talk to who isn't a total ahou," Heiji remarked, letting his eyes drag themselves sideways towards Kazuha. Still, there was no mistaking the fondness in his gaze.

Shinichi grinned, obviously not fooled by the words. "She looks great—they both do." He wasn't afraid to say it, either. Ran was stunning in red, and Kazuha was lovely in something long and dark green with straps.

"Watch it, pal. Or I might have to get your monkey-suit dirty," Hattori chuckled. There was no real malice in the words. Anyone with a pulse could see that Kudo belonged solely to Mouri Ran; any expression of another female's beauty was solely from an aesthetic point of view.

The four of them presented themselves properly to their host before making their way into the party. It was an extravagant affair featuring the toast of society all dressed to the nines. Or in some cases, the tens. There was a table featuring hors d'ouerves (most of which had names Ran didn't even know how to pronounce), and a string quartet in the corner was providing some pleasant background music.

After making the rounds and meeting various people of importance, they staked out a table and got comfortable. It wasn't a bad party, per se, but it wasn't really their cup of tea. After about half an hour, Shinichi leaned in and whispered to his table-mates. "I say we give it another half hour, and then leave. Sound good?"

Three nods of assent met this suggestion.

Kazuha grinned. "I vote burgers. Nothing says class like eating burgers in formal-wear!"

Heiji actually snickered. "You've got a good idea…for once."

She made a face at him.

"So what should we do until then?" Ran asked softly, looking around. "We could dance—there's music."

Heiji's face turned the same deep shade of green as Kazuha's dress at the suggestion. Apparently, he did not compute the word dancing with the idea of himself actually doing it. But unfortunately for him, Kazuha seemed relatively taken with the idea. "Oh, let's dance!" she said, tugging on his arm. "Please?"

He gave her a Look. "It's your broken ankle, not mine."

She stood up and grabbed his arm to pull him out of his seat. "Come on, just one song!"

Heiji might have thought her an ahou and he might have been convinced of his own two left feet, but he really didn't seem to be able to refuse her this. Or maybe he was afraid that she would make him actually eat his own feet if he said no. Either way, he let her drag him towards the dance floor.

Laughing quietly at them as Kazuha got Heiji onto the floor (and contrary to his earlier statements, he seemed to be neither falling over his own two feet nor stepping all over hers), Ran turned to Shinichi and gave him her most innocent smile. "Well? What about us?"

He wasn't fooled in the slightest. "You want to dance?" When she nodded, he grinned. "If my lady wishes it…"

Ran's smile grew wider, and she accepted the arm he offered her and let him lead her out to the floor. They swept into the dance with ease, staying near Heiji and Kazuha. Shinichi did spare a comment to his friendly rival regarding Hattori's dancing abilities as compared to Shinichi's own.

Hattori told him (in the most polite terms possible) to drop dead.

Still, for the most part Shinichi's attention remained on the lovely young woman in his arms. There was something very soothing about just holding her like that, looking down at her smile and knowing she was his…and if she noticed that he was holding her a little closer than usual, she didn't say anything. She certainly didn't protest.

So they swayed gently, lost in the music and each other. It was perfect. It was romantic. It was…

Too good to last.

A scream shattered the tranquility of the moment. It was high-pitched enough to break flass, and loud enough to carry clearly over the music, sending everything in the room to a screeching halt.

Ran tensed in Shinichi's arms. No…it couldn't be. It just couldn't be happening. Not here, not now, not when they were enjoying such a beautiful evening…she didn't want him to…

"Somebody help!" the woman screamed. "He's dead! MURDER!"

There was a sickening crunch as Ran's heart dropped into the soles of her strappy white shoes. She looked up at Shinichi, hoping pitifully against hope that he wouldn't…

He let go of her and turned towards the commotion. "Hattori, we need to get this under control!"

Nearby, Heiji gave Kazuha a pained look; she sighed, but waved him along. He did take the time to give her a kiss on the cheek before he started running towards the area from whence the scream had come.

Shinichi turned back to his own girlfriend. "Ran, I—" But he was startled to find that he was alone. Ran was walking away, moving across the room towards the French doors that led out into the gardens. He looked at her retreating back for a second, then made a quick decision. "Hattori!" You're on your own!"

Without waiting for a response from his fellow detective, he turned and hurried after Ran. By the time he made it through the doors, she was already down the stairs and into the gardens. She moved behind a tree and disappeared between some hedges.

Kazuha walked to the doorway and watched. To a certain extent, she knew how Ran felt…but at the same time, she had never had to be away from Heiji. They had never been apart. So letting him go running off to play detective was a bit easier for her. Still, she smiled. At least he was going after her.

**_-o-_**

_Every time…every goddamn time! _Ran cursed mentally as she stalked through the garden. She wasn't usually prone to fits of swearing, but right now she was just upset.

It was probably very irrational of her to be this upset over something she really should have been long accustomed to. Mysteries were a part of who Shinichi was. But somehow, it just really wasn't happening tonight. Things had been going so well. It had been a picturesque evening, so close to paradise…

And then her boyfriend, the body magnet, struck.

She was starting to wonder if he was cursed.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to calm down. It wasn't Shinichi's fault, she reasoned. And what he did was very important. She should go back; the walk outside had cooled her head plenty. And maybe by the time she got back inside, he would have already solved the crime. It wasn't totally unheard of…

…it was at this point that she realized exactly how far into the gardens she had gone. And it seemed like everywhere she looked, there were tall bushes on either side of her. She turned a corner, and found herself fenced in on three sides by those same tall, thick hedges.

The realization hit her then, and her heart sank.

She had somehow wandered into—and gotten lost in—a hedge maze.

Ran looked around. It was dark out, and clouds had managed to roll in and obscure the moon. The temperature was starting to drop, and she suspected that it would soon be rather chilly. And she had no idea where she was or how to get out…and no one else knew she was out here. In short, she couldn't have messed this up any more if she had planned it in advance.

She pulled the white wrap in more closely around her shoulders. Okay, stay calm. Find a way out. Sooner or later, someone was bound to notice that she was missing. After all, she had three friends there with her! But she didn't know how long it would take them to figure out she was out here…

Hands closed around her upper arms.

Instinct took over, and in an admittedly knee-jerk reaction, Ran whipped around with a fist at the ready. But she wasn't prepared for one of her heels to stick in the dirt beneath the grass at her feet as she turned, and it sent her toppling off balance. She hit the ground with a thud, and was momentarily dazed. But then the person above her—the one who had grabbed her arms—swam into view. _Oh…it's Shinichi…_

He was on his knees beside her in an eyeblink. "Ran! Are you all right?"

She was about to reply, but then she realized that he had just scared the wits out of her—and whether or not he'd intended it, she'd still taken a nice tumble as a result of his sneakiness. In her fabulous dress, no less! So she brushed his hand away. "I'm fine."

To his credit, he backed off. "I'm sorry…"

"I don't need help," she said before he could offer. She put one hand on the ground to push herself up…and immediately fell back to the grass as pain lanced up her leg. She couldn't put weight on it without gasping in pain. It didn't take long for her to realize what had happened—her heel sticking in the ground as she turned around…it was all too easy to figure out.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Ran looked up at him, then looked back down at the ground. She angrily threw her hands down into her lap, feeling extremely immature as she did so. "I think I twisted my ankle…"

Shinichi had been on one knee beside her; now he shifted to sit on the ground next to her. "I'm sorry…"

She sighed. "Why does this always happen?"

"Hmm?"

"Why does it always happen like this?" she said softly, keeping her eyes on the grass around her skirt. She wanted to cry, but for whatever reason there were no tears. "Every single time. We go out somewhere and it starts out so wonderfully and everything is great…and then somebody dies. Somebody always has to drop over and die…it's sad that people die, and I know I'm being really selfish, but…" She toyed nervously with the hem of her skirt. "…just once, I don't want to share you. I want us to go somewhere and have a nice evening where I don't have to share you with the police and a dead body."

Shinichi sat quietly while she spoke. "Ran…I wasn't going to—"

"It doesn't matter if you do or not," she replied. "I know how you are, Shinichi. Even if you stayed in the background, it will still be on your mind all night. Probably will be even now." Nearby, they could hear police sirens roaring to the scene; she ignored it and went on, "That's just the way you are. I accept that."

"But it doesn't make you happy."

"I know that what you do is important. And I know that I'm selfish. But…" she finally turned her head and looked directly at him. "I waited for you for so long. Is it wrong of me to want to have you to myself sometimes?"

Shinichi was silent for a moment before he said. "Well…we're alone now, right?"

"…we're lost," Ran corrected him. "This is a maze."

He looked up at the sky; as if on cue, the clouds parted, revealing the shine of the full moon. "I don't know…I think it's sort of nice out here. Maybe a little cool, but it's not bad."

She was starting to get what he was saying, and she smiled wryly. "Well…we could stay out here for a while. I'm certainly not walking out of this place." She looked down at her leg and sighed.

"It's my fault you got hurt," he said with a wave of his hand, "so I'll carry you."

"You're kidding."

"I'm serious."

"Well…it is nice out here…" she admitted.

Shinichi grinned. "You know, the Garden of Eden was sometimes called Paradise."

Ran blinked. "This isn't Eden."

"Not quite. But it might be Paradise."

**_-o-_**

As Megure-keibu went about interviewing the witnesses, Heiji located Kazuha in the crowd. "Where did Kudo go?" he asked. He'd heard his rival shout that he was on his own before vanishing.

"Ran-chan headed into the garden," Kazuha told him. "And he went after her."

Heiji frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "But they're not back yet."

"Huh. Well—" Heiji started to say something else, but was interrupted when Satou approached and borrowed him to help with the investigation of the murder of man who had turned out to be a business partner of their host's.

**_-o-_**

This was so comfortable.

Shinichi was sitting with his knees pulled up near his chest and Ran across his lap, her back against one of his arms. She let her head rest against his shoulder; whatever problems they'd already had that evening were all but forgotten. Granted, Hattori-kun had probably taken care of the murder investigation by now—she assumed it was a murder, simply because Shinichi was in the vicinity; she did hope they caught the murderer.

But still…it was so nice to have a moment like this, just between the two of them.

They talked quietly about everything and nothing, just letting things flow as they would, lapsing into silence now and again, and then renewing the conversation. For all they knew, they could have been the last two people in the world…and it wouldn't have mattered. It was just them and the night.

It was during one of the quiet moments that Ran reached and let her fingers trace a line across Shinichi's face, moving over his cheek to his hair and applying the tiniest bit of pressure to draw his head down towards her. He needed no further encouragement, and let himself be pulled into a very gentle kiss.

One kiss became two.

Two became three.

Three became countless, all running together.

And soon, it was no longer sweet and gentle.

Ran's arms made their way around his neck while he pulled her closer. He shifted her in his arms, giving his hands ample freedom to roam her back and run through the length of her hair. Her fingers massaged the back of his neck, offering silent encouragement and drawing the first small moan from him.

So when he pulled his thumb down over her chin in a wordless request for entrance, she parted her lips and granted him that, loving the sensations of taste and touch and hearing those tiny little sounds that meant she was pushing all of the right buttons…

They were completely under each other's spell, and the spell of the evening. So when the movements of hands became a little more daring and the touches became braver, neither protested. And then, never releasing his possessive claim on her lips, Shinichi's hand moved to carefully cradle the back of her head and he shifted again to ease her backwards.

She felt the grass behind her shoulders and the constant press of Shinichi's kiss.

And that was all she needed right then.

_Some time later…_

"We should probably go back," Ran said, snuggling a little closer against him. What a night, indeed…she was happy. So very, very happy…she really didn't want them to go back. She liked them being alone here like this, but sometimes one just had to be practical.

His response echoed her true thoughts. "Do we have to?"

"Our friends are probably wondering where we are," she pointed out.

Shinichi pressed a kiss to her temple. "Let them wonder."

"I'm also getting cold," she said, choosing that moment to shiver in his arms.

This seemed to be what decided him—if she was seriously cold, that was extremely bad. "All right…" He stood up and offered her a hand. "Come on—let's get you on your foot."

Ran raised an eyebrow at his choice of words, but accepted the hand, braced her good foot against the ground, and let him pull her up. Unfortunately, he pulled a little bit too hard, and she wound up nearly going right on her face. Fortunately, he was there…so she just crashed into him.

"Whoa!" he half-yelped; both his arms went around her waist to steady her. "Careful!" Still, holding her like that, there was no way he could resist the temptation to lean down and give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

She turned her head to allow it. "You'll take any excuse you can find to do that, won't you?"

"I just can't help it," he said with a smile. "But before we go, here. Take this." He slipped his jacket off and wrapped it around her shoulders; she stuck her arms through the sleeves, which proved to be a bit too long for her. It was quite adorable. "I can't have you freezing halfway there."

The inside of the jacket was warm from his own body-heat, and his scent was faint, but present in the thick fabric. It made Ran happy—and also much warmer. "Thank you."

He grinned, and bent to scoop her up bridal-style. "Got everything?" he asked. When she nodded, he added, "So should we try to go out the same way we came in, or be adventurous and look for the actual exit?"

Ran winced. "The way we came in. It's probably closer."

"So you command it, so shall it be done," he said simply, and started walking back towards the path he remembered taking to come to this place when he had followed her into the maze. And for admittedly the first time since he'd found Ran out here, he wondered what had come of the investigation…

**_-o-_**

"I don't know where Kudo could be," Heiji said with a shrug. Nearby, the murderer was being escorted into a waiting police car so he could be taken to the station for further questioning and booking.

Megure-keibu raised an eyebrow. "That's really not like him to run out on an investigation."

At Heiji's shoulder, Kazuha repeated what she'd seen earlier. "He and Ran-chan went out towards the gardens." She still wasn't telling the whole story of what she knew. That really was none of her business.

"Did you miss us?"

All three turned to the voice, and three sets of eyes widened. "What the hell happened to you?" Heiji blurted out the question that was on everyone's minds. Granted, it was not an out-of-line question. Kudo Shinichi and Mouri Ran had both looked relatively immaculate upon their arrival at the gala.

Now…they were both rather disheveled, and looked much worse for the wear. Ran's hair was mussed, and she was wearing Shinichi's coat. They were both red-faced, and for some reason, Shinichi was actually carrying Ran. But they both looked rather happy…

"Sorry we were gone so long. We went for a walk in the garden," Shinichi apologized; he bent to set Ran's feet on the ground before letting her go. It was obvious that she was only standing on one leg, and she leaned on Shinichi's shoulder for balance. Straightening up, he took a deep breath and added, "And we got lost. Did you know there was a hedge maze out there? I certainly didn't know there was a hedge maze out there."

"So that's why you went missing like that," Heiji nodded.

"Yeah. My fault, really," Ran said sheepishly; it was partially the truth. "And I tripped. And I think I twisted my ankle. So could we maybe continue this inside? Preferably somewhere with a chair I can sit in?" She did manage to look fairly pathetic then.

Heiji shot the Inspector a look, and Megure nodded. "We're done here. Thanks for your help."

Meanwhile, Ran looked up towards the building and winced. "Oh lord…" she raised a hand and pointed. "Stairs."

Shinichi bent over and put his hands on his knees. He seemed rather winded. "Okay…gimme a sec…"

The Tokyo detective was nearly pushed over as Hattori moved between him and Ran. "You take five. 'Scuse me, Neechan." And with no further ado, he picked Ran up in the same fashion Shinichi had…and started walking towards the building, ignoring the fact that Shinichi was sputtering.

Ran, on the other hand, seemed rather amused. "Wow…swept off my feet by two handsome guys in one night."

Kazuha laughed. "I would call this evening a success." She turned back to Shinichi, who was shaking his head and looking somewhere between amused and disturbed, and walked over to him. "So I guess you're with me!" She took one of his arms and slung it over her shoulder and used that as leverage to pull him along with her.

"You're all crazy…" Shinichi said flatly. Still, when Ran looked back over Heiji's shoulder and smiled at him, he couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

**PS.** _Wow…this is the longest challenge fic (for any challenge) that I've written in a while! Or that's what it feels like, at least…but anyway, **this fic goes out to the excellently awesome sapphirestars in honor of her twenty-second birthday!** You're all grown up now, love! Happy birthday, and I hope you have an awesome day!_

_Also, the awesomely excellent "She who does not wish to be named" **drew a picture to go with this fic!** It's over on my LJ (which is my homepage on my ff-dot-net bio). She asked me not to put a name down, and I will respect that, but you should all go check out the glory that is that fanart!! SQUEE!!_

_Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	19. A Family Affair

**Title: **A Family Affair**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#7—good morning**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Shinichi, what do you think about kids?

* * *

When Shinichi opened his eyes one happy morning and found that his lovely wife was straddling his stomach in her nightgown…well, he could definitely think of far worse things to wake up to. "Good morning!" he said happily, grinning up at her and trying to remember if today was a special occasion of some sort that he had managed to forget and would be in trouble for forgetting. 

Ran smiled at him. "Good morning yourself," she said softly. "Shinichi…I wanted to talk to you about something."

He put his hands on her waist and nodded. "Go ahead. What's up?"

"Well…" she seemed a little nervous, "…we sort of talked about this before we got married, but it's something we never actually discussed—we probably should have, but it got lost in everything else that was going on. But I've been thinking about it a lot lately, so I thought I would bring it up. So I want to know…" she paused, then pressed on, "…what do you think about kids?"

Ah, so that was it. "You mean in terms of having them?" When she nodded, he said, "I'm certainly not averse to the idea. What do you think?" He already knew what she thought. She'd mentioned it before, and she wouldn't be bringing it up if it was something she didn't want.

Ran's voice was firm as she confirmed his thoughts. "I want a family, Shinichi."

He looked at the ceiling for a second. "How many were you thinking?"

"One. Two. Six. I don't know," she said with a shrug. "That's something we would have to decide together. This isn't exactly a solo sport, you know."

Shinichi couldn't help but laugh at her choice of words. "Point."

"And it's not like we can't afford to do it." This was true—life at the Kudo residence was quite comfortable, and monetary worries were rarely an issue. "There's no reason we can't—it's just a matter of whether or not we want to. So…what do you think?" she asked again.

He sat up and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "I think you'll be a great mother. And truth be told, we could use a baby around here. I've been sleeping entirely too much lately." She laughed, and he grinned. "So…let's go for it. What do you want—a boy or a girl?"

"I don't care, so long as the baby is healthy," she said firmly, her smile absolutely radiant; she seemed relieved that he'd agreed, and surprised that he'd agreed so quickly. She must have been expecting more discussion or even argument over the matter. "Whew…glad we talked about that. So how about breakfast?" She shifted as though she was going to move off him, but was stopped when his hands tightened at her waist. "Eh? What?"

His grin was borderline feral. "So after this little chat, you're just going to get up and walk out of here?"

"Err…"

"We're going to have kids?" he said in a low voice, his arms sliding around her waist. "Let's get started." And with no further ado, he rolled over, pinning her down to the bed with his weight, his hands already going to work.

Ran started to laugh. "I should have known!" That was as far as she got before he kissed her breath away, and she decided that breakfast could really just wait a while longer.

* * *

**PS.** _Not much to say on this one. Next one is numbah twenty, the two-thirds mark! Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	20. Red and Black

**Title: **Red and Black**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#11—game**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **It was one of those moments where he proved just how much he loved her.

* * *

"Your move," Shinichi grinned across the game board at Ran.

She raised a brow. "Of all the ways you could think of to spend a rainy day indoors, you picked checkers?"

"Oh?" his grin grew a little more leer-ish. "Did you have another idea?" His grin vanished when she kicked him under the table. "Ow! Okay, okay, just kidding…I don't know—I just haven't played checkers in a long time, and I thought it might be kind of fun."

Ran shook her head wryly. "I suppose it's better than listening to you babble about Sherlock Holmes until the storm lets up." When she saw him open his mouth, she quickly added, "And don't feel the need to start now. Really, you don't have to." She reached out and slid one of her red pieces onto an adjacent square. He had been a gentleman and let her choose which color she wanted; red was her favorite color, after all. Hers _and_ his, actually.

He studied the board for a moment; he grinned. "Aha!" He reached out and selected one of the black pieces and jumped one of her red pieces, taking it from the board. "Your move, Ran." The grin on his face proved that he knew perfectly well that he was winning by a landslide.

Ran stared at the game board for a minute, then looked up at Shinichi, and then looked up at a point behind him, over his shoulder. Her eyes widened, and she pointed and yelped. "Oh my gosh, what's that?"

Shinichi automatically turned around in his chair, concerned, and looked around the room behind him. He frowned. "What? I don't see anything…" It was then that he realized what had just happened, and nearly slapped himself in the forehead. But he grinned and turned back around. "I didn't see anything."

"Oh…it must have been a moth," Ran said airily. "Your move."

Now, Shinichi was a detective. He had built his reputation (and someday he hoped that would carry him into a full-fledged career—which, all things considered, seemed quite plausible) by being able to notice every little detail about anything and everything, and then letting that evidence lead his deductions down the correct path. That was how he always arrived at the right conclusions. His philosophy was simple: he trusted the evidence of his eyes, and let that evidence speak for itself.

And right now, his eyes were telling him that something was seriously amiss on the game board.

Namely, several pieces seemed to have moved to different spots on the board. Funny, but the game now seemed to be strategically in Ran's favor, whereas a moment ago he had been winning by a landslide.

And Ran was sitting across the table from him, her eyes sparkling with false innocence. It was like she was challenging him to call her on it. She had to know that there was no possible way he could have missed the changes. She knew exactly how observant he was.

After wavering for a moment, Shinichi reached down…and slid one of the black pieces to another square without comment. "Your move," he said in dry tone that let her know that yes, he knew what she was up to and yes, true love meant that he was letting her cheat at checkers.

Ran laughed, and he grinned. After all, it was just a game.

* * *

**PS.** _This was inspired by a line from __**The Wedding Singer**__ (the Broadway musical), in the song "I Wanna Grow Old with You." The line is, "And when we play checkers, I'll let you cheat." I just thought that to be such a sweet sentiment, and it reminded me of when I was little and my dad and I would play checkers almost every night. I'm pretty sure he let me win on a regular basis._

_So we've reached number twenty. Ten more to go! YAY! Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	21. Coming Clean

**Title: **Coming Clean**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#22—beautiful**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **The lies had to stop sometime, and he decided that this was it.

* * *

Of all the things that could have happened when he and his allies confronted the Syndicate, this was the thing he had most feared could happen…and it had. She had come there after he had told her not to. And it had just taken one bullet, ricocheting in the wrong direction, for them to wind up here. 

She was lucky, the doctor said. Given the scenario and all the factors involved, she was extremely fortunate. No vital organs had been hit. The bullet had gone clean through. She would recover, given time and rest. All the rest of them could really do at this point was wait.

Her room had a window for easy observation—she was probably out of the worst of it now, but it didn't hurt them to be careful. Her friends and family could not go into the room just yet, but they were permitted to stand outside and watch through the window.

At his estranged wife's insistence, Mouri Kogoro finally allowed himself to be dragged away by well-meaning Takagi to go find something to eat. But try as she might, Eri couldn't get Shinichi to budge. He was glued to the window, and said point-blank that he wouldn't leave until she woke up.

Eri studied the young man for a moment. He looked worn—he had to be exhausted from everything that had already happened. He was white as a sheet, and this was quite possibly the quietest she could ever remember him being. And he seemed sort of unaware of much of the activity going on around him; instead, he kept his attention focused squarely on the still figure in the bed beyond the glass.

"Shinichi-kun," she said softly. "You can't stand there all night."

"Yes, I can."

She sighed. By all accounts, Eri had plenty of reason to be upset with the young man standing in front of her. What she lacked was the energy. Ran had nearly died tonight, Shinichi had nearly died tonight…in light of everything else, it just didn't seem as important as it otherwise might have been.

Eri walked to the window and stood beside him, looking at her daughter. "It's heartbreaking, isn't it?" She had already cried when she learned of what had happened. Now, she simply let herself feel numb.

He nodded grimly. "I'm sorry…this is my fault…"

That thought had actually crossed Eri's mind. Ran was her daughter, and she wanted someone to blame for what had happened. Shinichi was the easiest target for that by simple reason of proximity, but as she looked at his face then, she knew that she couldn't blame him. "You're not the one who shot her."

"But I'm the reason she was there," he replied flatly.

"You told her to stay away," Eri said. "She followed anyway. Everyone made mistakes tonight, Shinichi-kun. But in the end, he's the one who pulled the trigger." She realized that she truly meant it.

Shinichi nodded, though she had the impression that he didn't actually believe her. He stared through the window for another few seconds. "She's beautiful…" he murmured under his breath, leaving her to wonder if he had actually meant to say that out loud.

Still, those two words confirmed something she had long suspected. And so she decided to go ahead and ask, since he had given her a perfect opening to do so. "Shinichi-kun," Eri said firmly, "I want to know exactly what you intend to do when she wakes up. What are you going to say to her?" She turned away from the window to look at him straight on, fixing him with a potent look. "I don't think I'm out of line in asking."

He kept his eyes on Ran, but replied in a quiet voice. "I've been asking myself that since it happened. And I think I know what I want to say to her." He sighed. "I know I shouldn't—I don't really have any right to say it, but…it seems like all I've been doing lately is lying. There's been a damn good reason for it, but it's still lying. The lies have to stop somewhere, and I think now is as good a time as any, isn't it?"

Her expression didn't change a whit as he turned his head to look at her. And he met her eyes squarely. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again in that same soft, clear voice.

"I'm in love with your daughter."

Eri held his gaze. "And you intend to tell her that?"

"Yes."

After several intense seconds, Eri let her stern expression melt into a very sad smile. "I knew this would happen. Sooner or later…I knew you would take my daughter away." She startled him then by reaching out and giving him a quick hug. "Tell her. But what she says or does in response is entirely up to her."

He stepped back and managed a weak smile of his own. "Thank you."

Eri nodded. "Now go sit down before you fall over."

Shinichi shook his head. "I'd rather stay here."

* * *

**PS.** _Wow…a Shinichi/Ran fic in which Ran barely makes an appearance! YAY! The original idea for this actually was Ran talking to Yukiko, but I sort of did a fic like that in 30 Friends (except it was Heiji, not Ran, and it wasn't a romantic confession), so I decided to reverse things a little bit. And so we get Eri, who is so awesome that I can't even make lawyer jokes at her expense! Hope you enjoyed it!_

_Also, I'd like to send this out to **SoulSeeker**, who is turning NINETEEN TODAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOVE!! _

_Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	22. Honest Answer

**Title: **Honest Answer**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme:**#28—replies**  
Rating:**PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Do you think I'm pretty?

* * *

When the phone rang, Ran really contemplated staying where she was—flat on her back on the couch—and not answering it. But if it was a case or something like that, she really needed to answer the call and take a message for her father. Those cases were the reason they got to eat, after all. So she hauled herself to her feet with a sigh and crossed to the desk, where she picked up the phone. "Mouri Detective Agency."

"Hey, Ran!"

She felt some of her misery melt away simply from hearing the sound of that voice. "Shinichi!"

"Thought I'd give you a call," he said. "What's up? How're you doing?"

"I'm fine!" she replied with as much cheer as she could muster. "Everything's just fine!" He always sounded so tired when he called, in spite of his efforts to sound happy—probably for her sake. She just couldn't bring herself to tell him the entire truth. So she tried to brush off the question.

He was silent a moment before he spoke again. "Okay. I'm going to ask again. This time, be honest. How are you?"

Ran hesitated for a split second, torn between telling him the truth (since he'd proven time and time again that he could see right through her no matter what) and denying that there was anything wrong at all. And that hesitation was to be her undoing. By the time she said, "I'm fine," he already knew the real answer.

"Ran, what's wrong?" he asked, a bit more forcefully this time.

"…I'd rather not tell you," she said, partially defeated.

"Why?"

"Because you won't like it," she replied. "Not at all."

"Won't know unless you tell me," he pointed out. "Come on, Ran. What's up?"

She hesitated again, then sighed.

_**-o-**_

_She was about to open the bathroom stall door and go out to wash her hands when some other girls walked in, chattering. She heard Shinichi's name, and paused to see what they would say about the long-absent Kudo-kun._

_Not too surprisingly, they were discussing the missing detective in a fairly glowing light. They wondered what had become of him and when he was going to come back and (most importantly) his availability upon his return. One girl in particular seemed fairly adamant about the boy._

"_But what about Ran-chan?" one of the girls said suddenly. The use of her first name had Ran desperately trying to place the voices—they were probably in her own class if they would refer to her as such. "Isn't Kudo-kun with her?"_

"_She swears up and down that they're not," another girl pointed out._

_A third voice broke in—this one a good deal colder, and definitely not one that Ran recognized. "I wouldn't worry about it," this girl said. "Why would he go with her? Not like she's much of a prize—especially not in the looks department. And she smashes poles with her bare hands. Kudo-kun deserves someone much more ladylike."_

_The conversation continued, but Ran didn't hear any of it. She was too busy trying to breathe and not cry…_

_**-o-**_

By the time she finished recounting this story, Ran felt her eyes starting to burn again. It was humiliating to even think about it, let alone talk about it—to say nothing of the potential ramifications on their relationship…

"…what a bitch," Shinichi said bluntly.

Ran nearly choked at that. Shinichi wasn't above swearing, but it was rare that he said things like_that_. "Now do you see why I didn't want to say anything?" she said bitterly. Listening to that conversation had hurt—particularly the looks comment. That was a personal attack, and while Ran didn't necessarily believe herself to be God's gift to men, she had never thought she was unattractive.

"I hope you don't believe any of that," he said.

The question nearly popped out, but she bit it back. Then she thought about it, and decided she had nothing to lose by asking. "Shinichi…I'm going to ask you a question, and I want an honest answer."

"Sure. Fire away."

"…do you think I'm pretty?"

The few seconds she had to wait for his reply stretched out into infinity, or so it felt. But finally, he did reply.

"Ran…you're beautiful."

* * *

**PS.** …_I feel like I'm starting to really suck at this. (sigh) CHEER UP, EMO KID!! (smacks self with a very large mallet) Oh well. I tried a couple of other things after Shinichi's answer, but nothing seemed to work well. So thus, it ended there. Thanks for reading, all. Much love!_


	23. Party Planning

**Title:** Party Planning  
**Fandom:** Detective Conan  
**Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran  
**Theme: **#3—shopping**  
Rating:** PG  
**Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary:** Ran's trying to get ready for a baby shower. Shinichi's not helping.

* * *

One happy morning, Ran got a phone call from Kazuha. The young woman was jabbering excitedly—she had just learned that she and Heiji were going to have their first child together; she was almost two months pregnant. Naturally, Ran was thrilled, and lo, the girl talk did commence. 

As the blessed date drew near, Ran offered to throw her friend a baby shower. They readied a guest list and the party planning got underway.

For his part, Shinichi was extremely supportive and made it clear that no, he did not mind surrendering his home to a horde of excited women for a day. He and Conan would just have to make a father-son day of it and go off to do manly things. All was well with the world.

The plan for the baby shower itself was simple: lunch at a nice restaurant (Ran was waiting on the last couple of RSVPs so she could make the reservation), and then go back to the Kudo residence for games and snacks and the usual chatter that was so commonplace at such parties. It was shaping up to be a really fun party.

A few days before the party, Ran fired out one last email to all the guests. Since Shinichi was at the police station to help with a case, she sent the email to him as well. He would probably see it when (and if) he took a break. It was more of a formality than anything else, so he would know immediately what was going to be happening in his home.

She wandered away for a few minutes to make a shopping list and help four-year-old Conan build a fort out of couch cushions in the middle of Daddy's study—Shinichi was in for a surprise when he got home! As they were hoisting the flag (a kitchen towel tied to a meter stick), she heard the computer ping, signaling that an email had popped into her inbox. She went to look…and was mildly surprised to see that it was from Shinichi.

More surprising was the fact that the subject line read "Disappointed." Confused, she opened and read the email.

_I saw your email. The party plan sounds good. But imagine how disappointed I was when I saw the email and realized that I wasn't the only one you'd sent this to. Love you. Shinichi._

Now completely bewildered, Ran went to look at the email she had sent out…and sat back in her chair laughing when she realized what he meant. She was torn between being mortified and being amused.

But she supposed that it served her right for not thinking before she sent her adoring (and frequently amorous) husband an email with the subject line "Lunch and a shower."

* * *

**PS.** _This was inspired by a joke I read in __**Reader's Digest**__ about a hundred years ago. I thought of it while taking a shower. This reinforces my notion that the smell of my shampoo makes my plunnies breed. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	24. Practical Joke

**Title: **Practical Joke**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#5—books**  
Rating:**PG-13**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Shinichi is such a big Holmes fan that Ran just can't resist messing with him about it.

* * *

It was one of those things that Ran stumbled across by accident. And she found herself staring at it for a very long time. Like a train wreck, she couldn't tear her eyes away from it. No matter how much she wanted to.

And as she stared at it, she found herself thinking of a possibility for it.

It was cruel, and not at all something a person like her should or would do. But at the end of the day, the idea was just too good to pass up. Shinichi had been babbling about Holmes a little too much as of late…maybe it was time to teach him a little lesson…

_**-o-**_

She was in the kitchen of the Kudo house, baking a birthday cake for her father. She wanted it to be a surprise, and so Shinichi had graciously offered her the use of his kitchen for the purpose of making the cake. He was staying out of her way, saying he was going to read in the library for a while.

So Ran went about her business, humming lightly under her breath, as she waited for the explosion.

Sure enough, there was a loud shout from the direction of the library. It was followed by the sound of a door flying open and loud, quick footsteps stomping towards the kitchen. A moment later, Shinichi appeared in the kitchen doorway; he did not look pleased. "Ran…" he growled through clenched teeth.

"Yes, sweetie?" she replied innocently, not looking up from the bowl she was stirring.

"Do you have any idea how this," he held up what appeared to be a volume of some sort, "got into my copy of _A Study in Scarlet_?" The cover of the book in his hand portrayed a thin, hawk-like man reclining on a couch.

Ran looked at it for a moment, then asked in that same innocent voice, "What is it?"

"Some sort of manga," he said. "About Sherlock Holmes."

"Oh."

"And Watson."

"That makes sense."

"…in bed."

"I had no idea. But whatever floats your boat, dear."

By this point, Shinichi was red-faced and sputtering too hard to continue the discussion. In a momentary throwback to something more suited to his Conan days, he threw a minor tantrum. He hurtled the manga at the floor, turned on his heel, and stormed back to his library. He even slammed the door shut for good measure.

Chuckling to herself, Ran picked up the fallen book and smoothed out a newly-formed crease in the cover. She wasn't usually prone to playing pranks like this—particularly not on Shinichi. She loved him dearly, and his Holmes obsession was a part of who he was. But every once in a while, an opportunity like this dropped into her lap, and it was just too good to pass up. In this case, opportunity consisted of a Sherlock Holmes yaoi doujinshi.

* * *

**PS.** _Before anyone asks, YES. There actually exists a yaoi manga (although I guess you could call it a doujin) about Sherlock and Watson. That involves smexing. I was made aware of this by __**Jeva**__, and thought it would be an absolutely delicious way to mess with Shinichi's head, poor fanboy that he is._

_Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	25. In the Big Apple

**Title: **In the Big Apple**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme:**#6—vacation**  
Rating:**R (for extremely suggestive content)**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **After all that had happened, they really needed a vacation.

* * *

"I don't know how you pulled this off, Shinichi," Ran sighed happily, drinking in the perfect view of the New York skyline. "But it's amazing."

He leaned his forearms against the balcony railing and grinned. "I guess being famous has some nice perks, huh?"

"I'll say!" she laughed, then added, "Although I don't quite understand why you only got us one hotel room. With one bed." There was definite suspicion in her voice now regarding his motives.

He lifted both hands now in a warding gesture. "This is the nicest suite in the place! And I didn't want to push my luck with the manager." He threw her his most charming smile before pushing away from the railing and moving towards the glass doors that led back into the suite. "I'll sleep on the couch."

He wasn't about to admit that there was a second reason, though it was nothing really bad: he simply didn't want to be too far away from her. Especially not after all he had gone through to come back to her in the first place.

Ran cast one more look towards the view, then followed him back into the suite. It was a rather wondrous set of rooms—an enormous bathroom, a sunken living room, and a bedroom with a bed so large and ornate-looking that Ran was afraid to even touch it; the entire place was decorated in blue and cream. Ran had gasped with delight when she saw it; it was beautiful. Shinichi had been visibly pleased with her reaction.

When she walked back in, he was already sitting on the couch with his head resting back against the cushions and his long legs stretched out to their full length, crossed at the ankle; he looked quite comfortable. Ran strolled around to the back of the couch; on a whim, she started combing her fingers through his hair, and giggled when he made a sound that was half-moan, half-purr, and all happy. "You like?" she teased.

"Hmm…you have my permission to never stop," he murmured with a smile. As per his request she kept on, letting his hair fall between her fingers like thick, rough silk. It was perhaps a more intimate moment than they were usually accustomed to, but it was so sweet…and really, sometimes it was so wonderful to just touch him and know that he was there and he was real and he wasn't disappearing again…

She felt daring all of a sudden, and dropped her hands to his shoulders before sliding her arms around his neck. He tensed in surprise but relaxed just as quickly. She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling his hair against her cheek. "I'm glad you're home."

Shinichi twisted; she loosened her hold, startled by the movement, before she found herself caught up in a very tight embrace. He had turned around and was kneeling on the couch, leaving over the back of the furniture to hug her.

For the next few moments, Ran allowed herself to be swept up in the moment and his arms and his strength. It was wonderful to know that it was all finally there. Beyond the windows and the balcony, New York City rolled by with all of its usual bustle and noise.

When they finally eased away from each other, Ran could feel herself blush. But that turned to some surprise when he asked, "Ran, do you know why I asked you to come here with me?"

"I—no, I don't," she shook her head. It had seemed a little bit strange to her, though. After he had been gone for what seemed like ages, news had broken of the bust of a massive crime syndicate; the investigation that had led to this enormous breaking story had Shinichi's name at the top of the list. And then he had shown up on her doorstep to ask if she wanted to go on a vacation. With him. After getting over her initial shock, she had given it about a second of thought before saying yes. After all, they'd gone places together before. And to hell with what her father would undoubtedly have to say about it. "Why?"

He leaned his elbows on the back of the couch and put his chin in his hands. "Because I thought it would be nice if we could have some time alone. Just the two of us. You know…get caught up, get things ironed out between us. And I do owe you as much of an explanation as I can offer right now." His smile was calm, but his eyes were not.

Ran could feel her face light up, and hoped fervently that she didn't look too stupid what with that enormous smile on her face. But he didn't seem to mind at all. Then a thought occurred to her, and she raised an eyebrow. "And you thought the best place to do this was a hotel room in New York City?" She didn't want to be suspicious—especially not when he had been gone so long and she was so happy to have him back. He was being so sweet, and he certainly hadn't done anything to suggest any dark intentions; he had been a perfect gentleman.

Shinichi was unfazed by the not-quite accusation. "I thought it'd be fun to have a change of scenery. I personally wanted to get away for a little while." That last was accompanied by a visible grimace. Given his recently-acquired status as a global celebrity in addition to his considerable local fame, it had apparently been almost impossible for him to walk anywhere in Tokyo without being mobbed by fans—many of them young, female, and pretty (to Ran's mind, anyway). There was a little better hope for anonymity in a foreign country, although not guaranteed (as evident by his conversation with the hotel manager). "And finally, I never said we were going to just sit in the hotel room the whole time we were here."

"Oh?" Ran said, watching as he stood up.

He was grinning from ear to ear now. "How about some sight-seeing?"

_**-o-**_

Bringing Ran to New York was easily one of the best ideas he'd had in a long time. They'd spent the entire day wandering the city, looking at anything and everything that caught their interest. But it was really less about the actual sights, and more about just being together.

It was late afternoon, though, during their walk through Central Park when Shinichi felt her hand brush against his. She had pulled back almost immediately, suggesting that it was an accident. But somehow, it gave him enough courage to forget his natural shyness about such things and finally do what he had wanted to do all day—he reached out and took her hand in his own. His hold was firm and didn't betray the fact that his insides were fluttering like hummingbirds on speed…which turns into exploding fireworks when she squeezed his hand back.

And so after this long day of sight-seeing and simply being together, he took her back to the hotel and told her to change into something nice. She raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"

"I'm taking you someplace nice," Shinichi's response was accompanied by a grin.

And so here they were, two hours later, at one of New York City's five-star restaurants. Ran looked around; she felt a bit uncomfortable in such fancy settings. Shinichi, however, seemed perfectly at ease—even when he was stopped by a couple who recognized him from the news. He didn't bat an eye.

Ran admired how he could stay so cool in a place like this, where she felt like she would get thrown out for even breathing the wrong way. But he had always been a part of this world, first because of his parents' connections and now because of his own esteems and accomplishments. Sometimes she wondered if she would ever truly be able to fit into such a world.

He didn't seem to notice her unease at first; she was trying not to make a big deal out of anything. But as he pulled her chair out for her, he leaned down and whispered, "Relax. You look great."

Ran offered him a grateful smile as he took his own seat. "How do you always do that?"

"I just know you that well," he replied.

Within the next few minutes, the waiter appeared to take their order and a wealthy-looking man with a French accent had come over to greet Shinichi. "It must be hard to be famous like this," Ran sighed. "Never a moment's peace, never even a minute to yourself…"

"It's better here than it was in Tokyo," he pointed out. "And either way, it doesn't matter. Tonight I'm here for you and you only." At her goggled expression, he chuckled. "Why so surprised? I owe you a lot, Ran. And this is the very least I can do." Now his smile grew softer. "That…and finally tell you that I love you."

Ran's eyes were the size of the dinner plates on the next table. "You—I—me?"

He nodded.

The smile that lit up Ran's face was brighter than the lights of Broadway. "Shinichi…" she looked down at the table, self-conscious. "I'm…so happy to hear that. I…god, where's my head? I love you too." She managed to stammer that much out before she realized how silly she probably sounded and clammed up.

For his part, Shinichi seemed pleased. The rest of their conversation went on fairly quietly in warm, hushed whispers over delicious food. It reminded her of another evening in another restaurant so long ago…except that Shinichi hadn't talked about Holmes at all tonight. He had told her that he loved her. And there hadn't been a—

"HELP!"

They were midway through a sinfully wonderful dessert when they heard the scream that she had known, deep down, would come sooner or later. Someone had been killed—back in the kitchens, if the frightened whispers were to be believed…and Shinichi hadn't moved from his seat, though he had joined the entire rest of the restaurant in staring back towards the kitchen to see what was going on.

Ran decided to just ask the question. "Are you going to go?"

To her open amazement, he shook his head. "I told you—tonight is for you. Besides, the last time I did that I wound up having to run off again. And I don't want to do that. So no, I'm staying right here—"

That was as far as he got before he was descended upon by a group of patrons, bodily hauling him from his seat. Ran's English wasn't the best, but she could pick out bits and pieces of what these people were jabbering about. There had been a murder, and weren't they fortunate that the famous detective Kudo was there to solve the case!

Shinichi's protests fell on deaf ears.

_**-o-**_

"Shinichi, you can stop apologizing now," Ran said as they walked back into their hotel room. She didn't dare admit to being secretly pleased at his concern. He had solved the murder and come back to the table…and apologized the entire way back.

He closed the door. "I really am sorry, Ran. I was hoping that kind of thing wouldn't happen." He crossed the living room, shedding his blazer as he did so and dropping it carelessly on the floor. "Maybe we should just not go out in public anymore."

Ran managed not to go crimson at a few possible implications of that idea. Instead she simply replied, "Or we could go out in disguise. We could get you some fake glasses," for some reason he snorted at that, "and maybe a fake moustache, and then—"

"I'll look just like my father," Shinichi cut in. "And instead of asking what it feels like to have busted a massive crime organization, they'll beg me to tell them what's going to happen in the next Night Baron book." He sat down and leaned his head back against the cushions in an imitation of his earlier posture.

She had to laugh out loud at that idea. "Oh, it could be worse." She sat down next to him, kicking her shoes off haphazardly in the process. Rather than copy his posture, though, she leaned against him; her head fit neatly against his shoulder. He chuckled and looped one arm around her neck.

They sat like that for a few minutes before Ran suddenly stood up and moved towards the glass doors and out onto the balcony. Shinichi followed and joined her in looking up at the night sky. The city was lit up in the darkness.

"Shinichi, thank you for bringing me here," she said quietly.

"You're welcome. And thank you for coming with me," he turned to look at her. He paused, then said, "You look tired. I guess it has been a long day."

"I just want to stay out here a little longer," she said, sliding a little closer. "Can we do that?"

"Definitely."

It was quiet for a moment; then Shinichi took a deep breath and turned to face her. She looked startled at the move, and even more stunned when he said, "I want to kiss you." As he said the, he realized exactly how unromantic they really sounded.

Ran stared at him. Then, softly, she asked, "Well…why don't you?" Her eyes were luminous as she said it.

"I…okay." It really wasn't at all how he'd planned it—certainly not as romantic as he had hoped. He'd sort of figured it would come up after dinner, but that plan had gone completely sour. But seeing her, all dressed up and with the city lights in her eyes…it just came out. But she was telling him to do it, so…okay then.

…strange, why wouldn't his arms move?

After a few seconds, Ran leaned back against the railing and sighed. "Or you could be as nervous as I am and freeze up," she said knowingly. The look she gave him was rather wry. "It's okay. I understand."

Somehow, that simple statement, stating that she was as nervous as he was, gave him courage. He moved in front of her and put his hands on the railing, one on either side of her. "Ran…"

And he kissed her.

By now Ran wasn't too surprised. Still, her eyes widened slightly before they fluttered shut. Her hands found their way to the back of his head and pulled him closer. Trapped between him and the balcony railing was not the worst place she could imagine being…

It was innocent and nervous and sweet and over far too quickly. He pulled away, and his eyes met hers, warm and happy. And then he kissed her again, now with less reservation and far more confidence.

Again she was left breathless when he pulled away. And suddenly, she felt a spiral of nerves rush through her when she realized that the world could very quickly become a very physical place. She wanted him, wanted desperately to be his and to make him her own…

"I…goodnight!" she pushed past him in a burst of anxiety and cold feet, darting through the doors and into the bedroom, where she closed the door. She regretted it (and felt like a royal idiot) before the latch even clicked.

But Shinichi didn't call out to her. He didn't even knock. He left her alone.

She changed from her dress to loose-fitting pajama pants and a camisole, glancing over her shoulder at the door now and again. Even after she crawled into the fancy (but extraordinarily comfortable) bed with the intention of sleeping, she kept her eyes on the door.

The _unlocked_ door.

_**-o-**_

After tossing and turning for eons (and thinking about Ran), Shinichi finally felt himself starting to nod off. Sleep was finally on its way…maybe he would dream about her…

He heard the sound of a door opening mere meters away, and a soft voice say, "Shinichi?" Now he was wide awake and sitting upright, squinting through the darkness as Ran padded soundlessly across the room to stand by the couch. "Did I wake you?"

"Nah," he replied—it was only a half-lie. He swung his legs off the couch and scooted over to make room for her to sit; she did so, curling both her legs under her. When she was seated, he asked, "What's up? Can't sleep?"

Ran shook her head.

"What time is it, anyway?" he asked; there was no clock within his immediate view.

"Almost two-thirty in the morning," she said. "Listen, Shinichi…I'm sorry I ran out like that earlier—from the balcony, I mean." He was about to reply, but she went on, "I just panicked."

That startled him. "Panicked? Why?"

"I got nervous," she shrugged. "And I ran. Which is stupid, because I liked it." She felt herself blush, though he probably couldn't see it. "I really liked it when you kissed me." She wasn't about to tell him about certain images that had flashed merrily through her mind, completely unbidden. She wasn't that kind of girl; she had been raised better than that. But still…to finally have him there and realizing that these feelings were mutual…

It did open up a lot of possibilities. Some of which seemed like they would be very fun to explore.

Dammit, she wanted him. But was it too soon? Even though she had been waiting for him for so long?

"…you know I'll never ask you to do anything you don't want to do," he said quietly after a moment, leaving her to wonder if he could read her thoughts. He always seemed to look right through her.

"What do you want?" she asked. "And be honest. I won't run."

She had no way of knowing that it had been his intent from the start to tell her the entire truth of what he wanted to have happen between them. Granted, he had never dared think he would admit to wanting certain things so soon in the game, but she had asked bluntly. He took a breath. "I want to be yours. I want you to be mine. And I want to hold you and not let go."

Ran didn't think. She just spoke, using the same reply she had given him earlier when he had said he wanted to kiss her and then hesitated to do so. "Then why don't you?"

The silence stretched on into eternity.

Finally, Shinichi answered her. "I don't want you to hate me."

"I won't. Shinichi…" she pushed up onto her knees and leaned towards him. "I missed you so much. I love you. And I don't want to lose you again."

He stood up. "Don't do this if you think you have to so you won't 'lose me,' because it's not true. You don't have to. I'm yours either way." That last was said with fierce possessiveness.

Ran didn't know why she was pushing this. She was starting to feel like a whore. "I'm sorry…" she said, standing up. "Maybe it's too soon. But I'm not saying this because I think I have to." Her eyes met his squarely through the darkness. "I do want you, Shinichi. Desperately." She turned with the intention of going back to the bedroom and trying to sleep away the fluttering feeling in her stomach. "I'm sorry. Goodni—"

She didn't even make it a step before he caught her arm and pulled her to him. He was kissing her—much harder than before—before she had any time to register what was happening.

They broke apart breathlessly. "Do you—"

"Yes."

That was really all the affirmation that was needed, and they found each other's lips again as they stumbled back towards the bedroom, hands already fumbling through the first nervous, clumsy touches.

Shinichi stopped when he felt the bed hit the backs of his legs. But he was less concerned with the bed (at the moment, anyway) and far more interested in the fact that Ran seemed quite intent on ridding him of his pajama shirt. "In a hurry?" he chuckled, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Quiet," she replied, finally freeing the last button and pushing the shirt back off his shoulders and down his arms. He tossed it aside while she ran her hands over the newly-exposed skin. Her lips caught his for a kiss before she pushed on his chest, sending him backwards onto the bed. She took advantage of his momentary surprise to take care of those pesky pajama pants as well, leaving him in boxers only.

"Get over here," he half-ordered, and she complied, lowering into his embrace for a very long kiss. While they engaged in a heated battle of lips and tongues, he rolled her over onto her back, pinning her with his weight. When he broke the kiss, he sat back and ran his hands down her sides to the waistband of her pants.

She lifted her hips from the bed to let him slide the garment down her legs, where they were discarded. It was only then that the first waves of nervous shyness hit her, and she tensed, waiting for his appraisal.

To her surprise, he frowned; then he caught one of her ankles and took one of her toes between his thumb and ring finger. "This little piggy went to market…"

That was enough. Ran laughed, her tension gone, and kicked gently. "Shinichi! Stop it!"

"Don't want you to be nervous, that's all," he cheered, trailing his hands up her legs to her hips…where he started tickling her, running his fingers lightly up and down her sides. Her reaction was the expected one: she laughed and tried to wriggle away. In the process, he flipped her onto her stomach and started working her shirt up her torso until finally he slipped it over her head.

When he stopped tickling her and rolled her over onto her back again, she had stopped laughing…and was reaching for him, pulling him down against her. The feeling of naked skin against skin was driving them both mad, and the only barrier left between them consisted of two thin layers of fabric.

For a while, they lay tangled together, kissing and touching, drawing the first soft moans from each other. Then two pairs of steady hands set about removing that last barrier, sliding the garments out of the way and casting them aside. They sat facing each other for a moment, taking in the sight of each other.

Then Shinichi kissed her, and Ran leaned against him to press him down on his back. And they made love for the first time.

_**-o-**_

Shinichi reached his free arm out to one side, arching his back slightly to get as good of a stretch as possible before returning that hand to its position under his head. His other arm was wrapped around Ran's shoulders, half-hidden beneath her cascade of dark hair. He kissed her forehead and tightened his hold.

Ran responded by snuggling closer to his chest and sighing happily.

"You know," Shinichi said softly, "I really hadn't planned on this happening when I asked you to come here with me. Or rather, I don't think I dared to even dream that this could happen."

She chuckled. "The thought hadn't even occurred to me. But…" she tilted her head to press her lips against his neck, "I'm so happy right now." The last word was punctuated with a yawn that betrayed how tired she really was.

"Maybe it's time to sleep?" he teased. "We'll talk more in the morning."

"Hmm…good idea," she agreed. She shifted slightly so her head could find a more comfortable pillow on his shoulder. "So don't move a muscle for the next eight hours, okay?"

"I'll keep that in mind," he replied dryly. Now his free hand reached down to pull the blankets up around them a bit more snugly. Heaven forbid she catch cold. "So…can I kiss you goodnight?" She giggled and tilted her head up to kiss him before curling back against his chest.

They murmured a soft goodnight, and were lost to happy slumber.

* * *

**PS.** _This took FOREVER to write x.x This one goes out to __**magicbulletgirl**__, who asked for Shinichi and Ran in New York with making out. Ya know…smut, making out, same difference. Longest one I've written in a while! This is number twenty-five, so only five more left! Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	26. On the Scene

**Title: **On the Scene**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme:**#1—chocolate**  
Rating:**PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **You took him with you?

* * *

Sometimes Shinichi screwed up without actually intending to. When he did, he usually owned up to it fairly quickly and took the scolding without complaint—especially if it was a big mistake, like forgetting an important date. Which did tend to happen, as the man habitually forgot his own birthday. But then he would apologize, and everything would be fine again. Ran didn't usually get too annoyed when he messed up.

But right now she was livid. She stood facing him with her hands on her hips, her face a mask of anger; she took a deep breath and said in a tight voice, "Okay, Shinichi…explain this to me one more time."

"Well…I took Conan out for ice cream, like I said I would," Shinichi began. This was true—Conan had scored the winning goal in his soccer game the previous weekend (he played on a kiddy team), and as a reward his proud father had taken him out for a treat. "And we were on our way home when a police car pulled up."

"Yes…"

"And Megure got out and said they needed me on a murder investigation…"

"Uh-huh…"

"And he wouldn't take no for an answer. So we got in and went with him."

"…you took our five-year-old SON to a murder scene?" Ran growled.

"I didn't want to!" he ducked, hoping and praying that she wouldn't do anything. They were married, and if she did use her karate on him it would constitute abuse. But that didn't really go for the furniture in the room.

Ran was visibly trying not to lose her temper entirely. "How did the victim die?"

"Err…" Shinichi knew she wasn't going to like this part, "…was pushed off a balcony."

"From how high up?"

"Forty stories."

"Onto concrete?"

"…yes."

That was all the mental image she needed. "You let our son see THAT??" She had the bit in her teeth and was off, giving him the verbal shakedown of his life, including swearing to every god in the heavens that there was no way her son was going to ever become a detective.

And through all of this, little Conan sat on the stairs, cheerfully licking at his chocolate ice cream cone and wondering why Mommy was so upset with Daddy. Solving the mystery and catching the bad guy had been cool!

* * *

**PS.** _Another random idea that sort of amused me. If I was a mother, I certainly wouldn't want my kid going anywhere near a crime scene. It sort of baffles me that the parents of the Shounen Tantei are okay with it. But eh, not my kids. Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	27. Tripped Up

**Title: **Tripped Up**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme:**#13—flight**  
Rating:**PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **He was falling. Would she catch him?

* * *

He had to run faster. Faster, faster, faster. He had to get away from Them.

There were sounds further down the stairwell; he heard voices that sounded very familiar. He hoped he was right, that they belonged to the police. For once, he was more than happy to place this whole thing in their hands. He had run his course with it, he had made it this far…

Now all he had to do was survive.

The shouts above him told him that there wasn't much time as the shouts below him told him that there wasn't much further to go. He started jumping stairs, vaulting over the railings. One landing in particular hurt, but he didn't spare more than a second to wonder if he had actually hurt himself. There was no time.

When he finally sprinted past the first officer, he didn't stop. He hollered something about the fact that the men after him were armed and dangerous, and then he kept going. Let the police handle it. He just wanted to get outside into the fresh air, away from all this.

For once his small size proved to be useful, as it allowed him to get passed the rest of the stampede going up the stairs by staying close to the floor and close to the wall. He didn't stop for any of them; finally he was back into a vacant stairwell and still going.

He turned a corner on a landing a little too fast and felt pain lance through his ankle. He stumbled, then tripped. He was going headfirst down a flight of stairs, almost flying over the steps as he headed for the next landing in a manner that wasn't going to allow him much control over how he landed there.

…except there was someone standing there, directly below him.

Something told him that she wasn't supposed to be here, but she had come anyway, either by subterfuge or by simply running along while everyone else was all caught up in the moment. But still…there she was, staring up at him with wide, startled eyes.

And he was falling right towards her.

He saw her lips move, forming a word—a name. His _true_ name. "Shinichi…"

In spite of the fact that he was tumbling through the air like this, it felt like time froze. They were suspended in a moment, staring at each other. And he wondered if somehow she was seeing him as the person he truly was, and not as he was currently trapped as.

All the things he wanted to say to her—had wanted to say to her for so long—seemed to bubble up inside him, though he couldn't bring himself to say a single word aloud. _I'm sorry…I didn't want to lie to you. I didn't want to hide from you. I just wanted you to stay safe._

It was like she heard him. _I know. And I understand._

_I don't know what's going to happen next. It could be anything. But if we stay together…if you'll still have me…do you think we can make it?_

Tears welled in her eyes. _I know we can. Just…don't hide from me again._

_Never,_ he promised. _And I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you._

Now he was moving again, almost in slow motion, falling towards her. Instinctively, he reached out towards her, wondering if she would catch him. His heart skipped a beat when she held out her arms in return.

_I'm sorry…I promise…_

_I forgive you. Just…_

He fell right into those arms. And just like she had so many times before, she caught him.

_**Never leave me again.**_

* * *

**PS.** _Holy surrealism, Batman o.o This is one of those things where in my mind (which is a strange place to begin with), they were sort of frozen in time, and it was one of those moments where she sees Shinichi instead of Conan. I hope this made some sort of sense. Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	28. Sun Kissed

**Title: **Sun Kissed**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme:**#2—sunburn**  
Rating:**PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **That has to hurt.

* * *

"Ow…"

"Ow…"

"This is really uncomfortable," Shinichi sighed.

"So what do we do?" Ran asked, shifting slightly and wincing as she did.

"I think we've got some of that aloe stuff upstairs. It's supposed to help," he offered.

"You gonna go get it?"

"…I'll be back eventually," Shinichi pushed himself to his feet and headed towards the stairs, cringing every step of the way. Why did the bathroom have to be all the way up there?

Eternities later, he inched his way back towards the couch, the bottle in his hand. "Here it is."

Ran's expression was grateful. "Thank goodness."

He sat back down and groaned. "Let's not go to the beach again for a while, okay?"

"Sounds good to me," Ran shifted again. "Don't suppose I could get you to put that on my back?"

"Sure…" his reply trailed off into nonsensical babbling as she pulled her shirt off, giving him an excellent view of her back and the bra strap running across it the reddened skin. "Ack…err…florgny emscar bloop?"

"If I didn't hurt so much, I might deck you," she sighed. "So put a lid on the hormones and get a move on."

"Are you going to deck me once you stop hurting?"

"Maybe."

"…maybe you should do my back first."

* * *

**PS.** _There was a point in here somewhere. I know there was. I just lost it. Oh well! The mental image of Shinichi speaking in tongues while staring at Ran's back (and being encouraged to touch) was priceless. Writing babble like that is also a lot of fun. Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	29. Pillow Talk

**Title: **Pillow Talk**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#17—five more minutes?**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer:**I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **Shinichi came home to find a girl in his bed.

* * *

He was wiped out. What a day.

Shinichi had gone to school (and playing catch-up after that long of an absence was not easy, though he was getting back to a point where he would graduate with the rest of his classmates), then soccer practice (he had forgotten how much he really missed playing), and then while he was walking home he had gotten a call from Megure to a murder scene. The case had been particularly challenging, and so by the time he got home he was exhausted.

It was getting late, but he wasn't even that hungry. All he really wanted to do was change and crawl into bed and sleep. Sleep was good. He liked sleep, even though he really wasn't getting enough of it lately.

He climbed the stairs and made his way to his bedroom. Everything seemed to be as it was supposed to be…until he opened his bedroom door, and realized that he was not alone in his home.

Ran was curled up on top of the blankets, her head on his pillow; her shoes were on the floor beside the bed, which is why he hadn't noticed anything amiss at the front door. She looked to be sound asleep.

Shinichi felt like he should be a little upset at being denied immediate rest, but he couldn't bring himself to even be irritated. He did like finally being able to be close to her in the way he truly wanted, and she looked so peaceful, lost to innocent slumber. Even if it was in his bed—an idea which made some little part of him do an Irish jig.

He moved as quietly as possible around the room, putting his things away. He stopped short of changing clothes with her in the room, though. If she did wake up in the middle of that…well, it was still too early in their romantic relationship to even be tempting fate that way.

At some point, though, he must have made some noise because when he glanced back at her, her eyes were half-open and drowsy. "Hmm…Shinichi? S'that you?" she murmured sleepily.

"Yup. Just me," he said. On a whim, he sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. "Whatcha doing?"

She sat up a little bit and looked around. "I fell asleep, didn't I?"

"I think you did," he replied with a smile.

"Hmm…five more minutes…" she whispered.

One hand moved to smooth out the beginning traces of bedhead—it was all rather adorable. "Not that I mind too much, but why are you asleep in my bed?"

He half-expected her to get nervous and flustered. Instead, she closed her eyes again and wrapped her arms around his pillow. "I would come here sometimes when you were gone," she said softly. "I missed you so much. This was where I felt closest to you."

Shinichi didn't answer; this was news to him. He kept working his fingers through her hair.

"I had a key, so it wasn't like I broke in or anything," she went on. "But this was my favorite place. I could have curled up here for hours and just not moved. It was the best spot."

"Any special reason?"

"It's the pillow," she whispered. "No matter how long you were gone, it still smelled like you. It made me feel like you were with me again. And I liked that." She sighed, as though inhaling a scent. "Now that you're back, it smells even more like you." Her eyes opened; this time they were clear and alert, and a little bit sheepish. "I really don't have to do this anymore, since you're home. But…it's comfortable."

He chuckled. "You're fine. No harm done."

"…do you want me to leave?"

"Depends. Are you comfortable with me joining you in a totally innocent context?"

Ran closed her eyes and nodded, scooting closer to the edge of the bed. Shinichi stood up and climbed over her, curling to match her posture. His chest was pressed against her back, his knees against the backs of her legs; one of his arms looped around her waist.

"What took you so long to get here, anyway?" she asked.

"Murder case."

"Figures."

"Hush. Go back to sleep."

* * *

**PS.** _I just thought this idea was cute. What else can I say? And with this, we have reached twenty-nine. SWEET!! The next one will conclude the challenge. Hope you'll all tune in for the finale. Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


	30. Heaven

**Title: **Heaven**  
Fandom: **Detective Conan**  
Characters: **Kudo Shinichi/Mouri Ran**  
Theme: **#30—love!**  
Rating: **PG**  
Disclaimer: **I do not own Detective Conan. All characters are the property of Gosho Aoyama. I simply threaten to make them watch old Barney tapes unless they obey me. Trust me, they listen.  
**Summary: **After careful consideration, she opened the envelope and began to read.

* * *

It was a white envelope—simple and innocent, with her name written across the front in very familiar handwriting. She knew that penmanship as well as she knew her own. Years of study sessions and passing notes in class had seen to that.

Ran took it (along with the rest of the mail) upstairs to her father's office. She set the majority of it down on the desk for her father to "look at" later—meaning that she would probably end up taking care of it when he forgot all about it. She sank down onto one of the couches and studied that envelope for a long moment before she turned it over in her hands and opened the flap.

Judging by the thickness, it was probably two or three pages long, if not a couple more. And he'd taken the time to handwrite it, rather than type it. Whatever he had to say, it was probably important.

She wavered for a long moment as to whether or not she should read it. On the one hand, Shinichi was not her favorite person at the moment. On the other hand…it had been two months, and she was lonely, in spite of her stalwart insistences to the contrary.

Unless this letter was to tell her off and say that he didn't want or need her and was better off without her—which she knew he would never do—there was no real risk in reading this letter, whatever it was that he'd written. It wouldn't hurt anything. If anything, chances were that it could only make things better.

Maybe it could help somehow.

She unfolded the pages and began to read.

_Ran,_

_I hope you at least read this and hear me out. You don't have to accept anything I say here, and I won't blame you at all if you don't forgive me. But at least it'll all be out in the open. I don't like having secrets from you, despite what recent events may indicate._

_First things first—I need to tell you this, and I wish I could say it to you with my own voice, like I wanted to from the beginning, but again, circumstances have not been in my/our favor, so this will just have to do._

_I love you._

_Don't know why I couldn't just say that before—lord knows that I had plenty of opportunities over the years—but hindsight is twenty-twenty, or so they say. Now it's probably to late._

_I was trying to think of the best way to describe how I feel, and really, the only thing I could come up with was heaven. Yes, it's sort of cheesy, but…_

_Being near you is heaven. Being with you is heaven. And being able to love you is as close to God as I'm ever likely to get. I'm not a religious person, but that's the truth. I know you're safe and well, and that you didn't get hurt in this whole mess—at least not in the physical sense. Knowing you're all right is happiness._

_Conversely…being away from you is hell. I miss you, and I miss what we had. It's true what they say—you really can't go back, can you? I'll admit it—I'm lonely and miserable and it's my own damn fault._

_And yet…_

_After everything went down, Hattori asked me if I would do it again, given the choice. If I knew what would happen and where it would all lead, would I still follow Vodka away from Tropical Land?_

As she read, Ran stood up and moved to the door. She took her eyes away from the paper just long enough to put her shoes back on and slip out the door. She kept reading as she moved down the sidewalk.

_In terms of almost everything, being stuck as Conan was a nightmare that I never want to repeat and a hell that I wouldn't wish on anyone. But in terms of you…_

_While I was living there, with you and your father, I got to see you. I saw sides of you that you had never shown to me. I think that I got to see the real you during that time. And I liked it. So if only because of that, I can't say outright that I wouldn't do it again._

_I wish there was a way I could reciprocate and let you see me like that. But one, you don't want to see me—not that I blame you—and two, I don't know if I can. That's the funny thing about masks. You wear them for so long, and then suddenly you realize that you don't know how to take them off again. You can't function without them. I still feel strange without the glasses. Masks protect…and they hurt. My masks kept us under the Syndicate's radar, but they meant that I had to lie to you. I regret the lies, but I stand by them because I think it was the right course of action, give the situation._

_At the end of the day, that's a lot of what life is, isn't it? Our paths are defined by the choices we make, and when we get to the end of the road we have to stand by those choices, for better or for worse, no matter what regrets we may have about them. Some things can't be changed, but others can._

_The things that can't change—what happened between us, what happened to me, the lies that resulted…and how I feel about you. I love you, and I wouldn't mind telling you that every day for the rest of your life, if you'd let me. What things can change? That's really up to you—the decision is yours to make, as it always has been. I've respected your wishes for the last two months. Everything in this letter are the things I've wanted to say since then. I needed to get them off my chest._

_I'm sorry for what happened. I hope made it this far, disjointed as it probably was. I've said what I wanted—no, what I **needed** to say. If you never want me to bother you again, I'll respect that—though I'd be lying if I said I Wasn't hoping that maybe you'd be willing to gie me—and us—another chance._

_Whatever you decide, it won't change my feelings for you, I love you._

_- Shinichi_

By the time she got to the end, Ran had made it to her destination. She opened the gate, stepped through it, and closed it before heading up the walkway; all the while she still had that letter clutched in her hand. When she got to the house itself, she rang the doorbell and waited nervously.

Several seconds passed before she heard the click of a lock opening; the door opened. "Ran?" To say Shinichi looked surprised to see her would be a gross understatement.

It was only then that Ran realized that she didn't really know what she wanted to say. At a momentary loss, she held up the letter. "I got this in the mail today."

He seemed neither confused nor embarrassed. "Yes?"

"You wrote it."

"Yes."

"…did you mean it?"

"All of it," he nodded. "Every single word."

She lowered the papers to her side. "So…what happens now?"

"That's up to you," Shinichi said quietly. He was still wearing his school uniform, sans his tie and blazer; he shoved his hands into his pockets and waited silently for her response.

Ran already knew what her decision was. She had known it for the last several months, but she had needed that little push to come clean about it. "Shinichi?" she said softly. "What did you say heaven was?"

Now he blushed bright red, but he still held her gaze squarely when he answered, "Loving you…being close to you…" There was no mistaking the emotion in his eyes.

"Well…" she took a small step towards him, "would you show me heaven?"

A second later, he realized what she meant. "Ran…" he whispered. "You—"

"Yes."

That was all he needed to hear. It took no further encouragement for him to reach out and draw her to him. It was almost like that moment on stage, between the princess and the masked Black Knight…

Except this time there were no interruptions.

* * *

**PS.** _Yay! It's done! Wanted to end it on a happy note—I'm sure someone will want to kill me for not actually writing the kiss xD Sorry! Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed and been with me through all of this._

_Thanks for reading, all! Much love!_


End file.
